Dr Faustine Ndugulile of Tanzania was elected as the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) Regional Director for Africa on Tuesday at the ongoing session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo.
He received 25 out of 46 votes, defeating candidates from Rwanda, Niger and Senegal. He was supported by 25 African countries, including Kenya.
A former deputy minister of Health in Tanzania, Dr Ndugulile will succeed Dr Matshidiso Rebecca Moeti of Botswana, whose two five-year terms end at the session.
Dr Ndugulile, a medical doctor specialising in microbiology, has extensive experience in public health.
Read: Tanzania speaker to lead global parliamentary body
In his campaigns for the position, he said his priorities include transforming African health systems to achieve universal health coverage, improving maternal and child health and strengthening health security, innovation and research.
“My candidacy represents a collective effort to transform the health landscape of Africa. By prioritising universal health coverage, maternal and child health,” he had told The EastAfrican earlier.
He also said he would aim at strengthening partnerships between African governments and health institutions.
Dr Ndugulile emphasised the need to improve the service index for universal health coverage, which remains below 50 percent in many African countries.
Dr Ndugulile is currently the Member of Parliament for Kigamboni Constituency in Dar es Salaam and serves as Vice-Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Health and HIV/AIDS in Tanzania, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and NEAPACOH.
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Tanzania Declares End of Marburg Virus Disease Outbreak
Tanzania today declared the end of Marburg virus disease outbreak after recording no new cases over 42 days since the death of the last confirmed case on 28 January 2025.
The outbreak, in which two confirmed and eight probable cases were recorded (all deceased), was the second the country has experienced. Both this outbreak, which was declared on 20 January 2025, and the one in 2023 occurred in the north-eastern Kagera region.
In response to the latest outbreak, Tanzania’s health authorities set up coordination and response systems, with support from World Health Organization (WHO) and partners, at the national and regional levels and reinforced control measures to swiftly detect cases, enhance clinical care, infection prevention as well as strengthen collaboration with communities to raise awareness and help curb further spread of the virus.
Growing expertise in public health emergency response in the African region has been crucial in mounting effective outbreak control measures. Drawing on experience from the response to the 2023 Marburg virus disease outbreak, WHO worked closely with Tanzanian health authorities to rapidly scale up key measures such as disease surveillance and trained more than 1000 frontline health workers in contact tracing, clinical care and public health risk communication. The Organization also delivered over five tonnes of essential medical supplies and equipment.
“The dedication of frontline health workers and the efforts of the national authorities and our partners have paid off,” said Dr Charles Sagoe-Moses, WHO Representative in Tanzania. “While the outbreak has been declared over, we remain vigilant to respond swiftly if any cases are detected and are supporting ongoing efforts to provide psychosocial care to families affected by the outbreak.”
Building on the momentum during the acute phase of the outbreak response, measures have been put in place to reinforce the capacity of local health facilities to respond to potential future outbreaks. WHO and partners are procuring additional laboratory supplies and other equipment for disease detection and surveillance and other critical services.
Marburg virus disease is highly virulent and causes haemorrhagic fever. It belongs to the same family as the virus that causes Ebola virus disease. Illness caused by Marburg virus begins abruptly. Patients present with high fever, severe headache and severe malaise. They may develop severe haemorrhagic symptoms within seven days.
In the African region, previous outbreaks and sporadic cases have been reported in Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Equatorial Guinea, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.
Source: allafrica.com
