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.

A major outbreak of lead poisoning in children has been occurring in Zamfara State, Nigeria since at least March 2010, related to the processing of lead-rich ore for the extraction of gold.

During March-April the Zamfara State Ministry of Health was informed by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) of an increasing number of childhood deaths and illness in villages in the two Local Government Areas (LGAs) of Bukkuyum and Anka. At the request of the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Health, the United States Centers for Disease Control (US CDC) deployed a response team to assist in investigating this outbreak. At the same time, the Blacksmith Institute sent a team from TerraGraphics Environmental Engineering Inc to conduct an environmental assessment. These teams worked with the national and state authorities, MSF, and the country office of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Blood samples taken from one of the suspected cases in Sangha Region, Republic of Congo, tested negative for several viral haemorrhagic fevers (Ebola, Marburg, CCHF, Arenavirus). Additional laboratory investigations are ongoing. The tests were carried out by the Centre International de Recherches Médicales de Franceville (CIRMF) in Gabon. Samples from the other three suspected fatal cases could not be obtained .