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During the 60th session of the Africa Committee of the WHO on Monday, Luis Sambo, regional director of the WHO for Africa, proposed the creation of a public health emergency fund to provide financial support to African countries in emergency situations, Agencia AngolaPress reports (8/30).
Also during the meeting, Sambo proposed a strategy to drive down the rates of “harmful use of alcohol and related problems in the Africa Region,” according to a second WHO press release. “In the African Region, the alcohol-attributable burden of disease is increasing with an estimated total of deaths attributable to harmful use of alcohol of 2.1% in 2000, 2.2% in 2002 and 2.4% in 2004,” according to the release, which adds that high rates of alcohol use are believed to contribute to the spread of infectious disease.
The “priority interventions proposed in the strategy include developing and implementing alcohol control policies; strengthening leadership, coordination and mobilization of partners; generating awareness and community action; providing information-based public education; improving health sector response; and strengthening strategic information, surveillance and research systems,” the press release states (8/31). (Source: Medical News Today, 9/02/10)