The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has begun a public awareness campaign about hygiene at primary schools across northern Cameroon in a bid to stem an outbreak of cholera that has killed hundreds of people.
The campaign, entitled My School Without Cholera, targets the estimated 1.6 million pupils attending the 3,639 primary schools in Cameroon’s three northern regions, where the cholera outbreak has been concentrated. It was launched yesterday to coincide with the first day of the new school year.

The Ministry of Health of Egypt has announced a new human case of A(H5N1) avian influenza infection.

The case is a 33 year-old female from Qaluibia governorate. She developed symptoms on 17 August, was hospitalized on 24 August, where she received oseltamivir treatment, and died on 26 August.

Investigations into the source of infection indicated that the case had exposure to sick and dead poultry.

The case was confirmed by the Egyptian Central Public Health Laboratories, a National Influenza Center of the WHO Global Influenza Surveillance Network (GISN).

Of the 112 laboratory confirmed cases of Avian influenza A(H5N1) reported in Egypt, 36 have been fatal.

The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has welcomed a new campaign launched by the Angolan Government to reduce maternal and infant mortality, and encouraged authorities to ensure the necessary budget resources to improve health for women and children.
The campaign focuses on strengthening the health system at the municipal level by providing improved maternal and child health-care services, as well as teaching healthy habits for mothers and children at home.

The Horn of Africa is again polio-free, with Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and Uganda having reported no wild poliovirus cases for more than a year. Today marks a step towards the achievement of a major objective of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative's new strategy – stopping polio in Africa.

The outbreak began in 2008, following the reappearance of wild poliovirus type 1 in the border area of southern Sudan and Ethiopia, and spread in early 2009 to the northern Sudanese city of Port Sudan, and to Kenya and Uganda. In total, 101 children were paralysed by polio in these four countries between 2 March 2008 and 30 July 2009. The cases in Port Sudan sparked particular international concern as it was from this area that, from 2004 to 2006, wild poliovirus type 1 spread to re-infect several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Yemen and Indonesia.