Brazzaville, 16 November 2012 -- The 62nd session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa is scheduled to take place from 19 to 23 November in Luanda, Angola. 

The event will be attended by Health Ministers from the 46 countries which constitute the African Region of WHO; Dr Luis Sambo, Regional Director for Africa and senior officials of the Organization including WHO Representatives in the African Region. Representatives of UN Agencies, Funds and Programmes, civil society, bilateral, multilateral organizations and other development partners are also expected to attend.

Delegates will discuss among others, a report on the Work of WHO in the African Region during the 2010-2011 biennium, to be presented by the Regional Director, Dr Luis Sambo.  The report will highlight successes achieved and challenges faced by WHO in its quest to help improve health outcomes in the Region.

High on the agenda of the meeting are three regional health strategies: on HIV/AIDS, health promotion (HP) and health sector disaster risk management -- developed by the WHO Regional Office for Africa.  The HIV/AIDS strategy provides directions for further accelerating HIV prevention  and increasing access to treatment and care in the region while the HP strategy calls for the participation of all sectors in health promotion in order to respond to the growing burden of preventable public health conditions in the WHO African Region. The strategy on disaster risk proposes ways to address the negative health and economic impact of natural and man-made disasters frequently experienced in the African Region.

The meeting will also discuss the report of the Consultative Expert Working Group on Research and Development: Financing and Coordination, an international expert group convened by WHO. The report recommends, among other things, that new sources of funding are needed to stimulate health research specifically for diseases that affect people in developing countries.

For the first time, the Regional Committee will discuss issues related to health and human rights in the WHO African Region. 

Also slated for discussion  by the five-day Session are the WHO 12th General Programme of Work;  WHO’s proposed Programme Budget for the 2014 – 2015 biennium; a road map for scaling up the health workforce in the Region for improved health services delivery; the implementation of  the International Health Regulations in the African Region;  the strengthening of national health information systems, and  the optimization of existing global health initiatives to strengthen national health systems in the African Region.

During the five-day meeting, a panel discussion on Traditional Medicine and side events on new vaccines, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and partnerships for health will be organized.

The Regional Committee, WHO’s Governing Body in the African Region reviews WHO's work in the Region and give orientations on actions to improve the health situation in Member States. 
__________________________________________________________________________

For more information, please contact:
Communication, Advocacy and Media Unit: cam [at] afro.who.int (cam[at]afro[dot]who[dot]int)  Tel: 004724139420 / 00472 4139378