United Nations
Office of the UN Resident Coordinator – MALAWI
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MEDIA ADVISORY
WHO Regional Director for Africa and UN Special Envoy to Stop TB on mission in Malawi
Dr. Luís Gomes Sambo, WHO Regional Director for Africa (left) and Mr. Jorge Sampaio, UN Special Envoy to Stop TB (right) were received at the Kamuzu International Airport, Lilongwe, by Hon. Mrs. Marjorie Ngaunje, M.P., Malawi Minister of Health
Dr. Luís Gomes Sambo, WHO Regional Director for Africa (right) and Mr. Jorge Sampaio, UN Special Envoy to Stop TB addressing the media upon arrival at Kamuzu International Airport, Lilongwe
LILONGWE, Sunday 25 March – UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy to Stop Tuberculosis, Former President of Portugal Dr. Jorge Sampaio and WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr. Luís Gomes Sambo will be on a four-day mission in Malawi from Monday 26 March. At the invitation of the Government of Malawi, the UN officials will take part in a ceremony where the Government will declare Tuberculosis an emergency in Malawi and launch the national TB Strategic Plan 2007-2011.
The United Nations Secretary General appointed Dr Jorge Sampaio as Special Envoy to Stop Tuberculosis in May 2006. Dr Sampaio’s role will be to build heightened awareness of this leading killer of our time. His immediate task will be to encourage world leaders to strengthen their commitment to TB control, and to work to reach the Millennium Development Goal of halting and beginning to reverse the incidence of the disease by 2015. Dr Sampaio was elected President of Portugal in 1996 and served for ten years in office.
Dr Luís Gomes Sambo, a medical doctor from Angola, was nominated by the 54th Session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa as WHO Regional Director for Africa in 2004. Dr. Sambo has served in various capacities in his country rising to the post of Vice Minister of Health in 1983. He joined WHO in 1989 and has worked in different in-country and regional positions.
During their mission, the UN officials will meet representatives of government and development partners. They will also visit health centres in Lilongwe to witness treatment and community involvement in tackling TB and a collaborative approach to TB and HIV prevention and treatment.
Declaration of TB as an emergency follows resolutions made by Health Ministers in Maputo in August 2005 when TB was declared as an emergency in Africa. Although Africa contributes about 11% of the world’s population, it contributes about 25% of the world’s TB burden. Secondly, while the incidence of TB is on the decline in the other WHO regions, the incidence in Africa in increasing; in some countries it has increased four fold.
Malawi has taken advantage of the SADC health ministers meeting that opens on Monday 26 March to unveil the 5-year plan, which will guide TB control in Malawi and address the emergency response. In Malawi, annual TB case notification has increased from 95 per 100,000 general population in 1987 to 230 per 100,000 in 2005. HIV has compounded the situation for Malawi resulting in high TB mortality, which currently stands at 18%.
World TB day is marked on 24 March. This year’s theme is “TB anywhere is TB everywhere”. In Malawi, it was marked in the northern town of Karonga.
For more information contact:
UN Communication Officer, Susan Muguro +265 9 967 991, susan.muguro@undp.org
WHO National TB Officer, Ishmael Nyasulu +265 9 941324, nyasului@mw.afro.who.int