Author: Merveille Ilunga

Global Fund Support Drives Capacity Building With the latest allocation from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Catholic Relief Services, in concert with the United Nations Development Programme, has taken on the delicate task of consolidating pharmaceutical governance in the Republic of Congo. From 20 to 24 October, the two institutions convened an intensive workshop in Brazzaville dedicated to refining the technical proficiency of managers charged with safeguarding the country’s stock of essential medicines. The initiative, fully aligned with national health priorities, reflects the authorities’ determination to strengthen the entire supply-chain continuum, from procurement plans to last-mile…

Brazzaville workshop signals national mobilisation In a conference room overlooking the banks of the Congo River, some thirty specialists from the Presidency, the Prime Minister’s office, sectoral ministries and overseas technical partners opened on 22 October a three-day workshop devoted to the plague of small ruminants, better known by its French acronym PPR. The meeting, chaired by Director-General of Livestock Kaya-Tobi, constitutes the final step before governmental endorsement of a revised National Strategic Plan for the Control and Eradication of PPR. The atmosphere was studious rather than ceremonial, as participants sifted through epidemiological graphs, budget tables and legal frameworks with…

A Pink October Rooted in Corporate Responsibility On 15 October 2025, the usually bustling operational sites of Africa Global Logistics (AGL) Congo, Congo Terminal, Terminaux du Bassin du Congo and SAGA Congo temporarily switched from freight schedules to health talk. More than two hundred female collaborators—ranging from crane operators in Pointe-Noire to finance officers in Brazzaville—responded to the call of the company’s medical adviser, Dr Éléazar Céleste Massamba, for a high-level seminar devoted to breast-cancer prevention. The event, held midway through the international “Pink October” campaign, offered participants a forum to discuss risk factors, self-examination techniques and the psychological dimension…

Ambitious Ten-Year Horizon for Urban Sanitation Announced on 15 October 2025, the Republic of Congo’s first integrated sanitation master plan sets a clear target: to curb the incidence of diseases linked to poor hygiene in Brazzaville and other urban centres by 2031, with further consolidation through 2035 (government briefing, 15 October 2025). The programme emanates from a collaborative drafting process involving municipal councillors, arrondissement leaders and private-sector waste operators, who were invited to map recurrent sanitation bottlenecks and propose corrective measures. By translating these proposals into a national policy instrument, the cabinet signals a willingness to align local knowledge with…

Strategic Significance of the Kouilou Campaign The recent announcement of a free distribution of long-lasting insecticide-treated mosquito nets in the coastal department of Kouilou offers more than a fleeting headline. It encapsulates an unspoken consensus among Congolese public-health planners: vector control remains the strongest bulwark against mosquito-borne diseases in regions where climatic conditions favour perennial transmission. By targeting Kouilou, whose mangrove estuaries and humid savannahs create a vibrant breeding ground for Anopheles mosquitoes, the authorities elect to intervene where the epidemiological return on investment is demonstrably high. Officials describe the campaign as a calibrated continuation of national policies that have…

Brazzaville gathers regional health strategists From 8 to 10 October, the riverside conference centre of Kintélé, on the outskirts of Brazzaville, became a laboratory for modern public-health governance. Delegations from the forty-seven states that form the World Health Organization’s African Region met under the chairmanship of Professor Mohamed Yakub Janabi to reflect on a theme that captures both urgency and ambition: “Repositioning the WHO Regional Office as Africa’s strategic health leader: accelerating country impact through convergence and national solutions.” Opening the deliberations, Congo’s Minister of Health and Population, Professor Jean Rosaire Ibara, framed the gathering as an opportunity to align…

World Sight Day turns spotlight on ocular health World Sight Day, observed each year on the second Thursday of October under the aegis of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, has once again provided an opportunity to place vision at the centre of public-health debate. In Brazzaville’s populous sixth arrondissement, the Ophthalmology Department of the Talangaï Reference Hospital seized the moment to orchestrate a two-day open clinic dedicated to the early detection of Dry Eye Syndrome, cataract, glaucoma and other sight-threatening conditions. While global statistics underline that more than one billion people live with preventable visual impairment, medical…

Early-morning shock in Makélékélé district The calm of 2 October was abruptly shattered in Château d’Eau, a neighbourhood of the first arrondissement of Brazzaville, when a young woman of about twenty years was allegedly attacked with a machete by her partner. According to family members, the man arrived at the familial residence determined to take their five-month-old daughter to a health facility. The mother, convinced that her first-hand knowledge of the child’s recent symptoms was indispensable for the consultation, resisted the idea of being left behind. Within moments, the disagreement escalated to brutal violence, leaving the young woman lying on…

A national drive against silent killers The marble halls of Brazzaville’s Radisson Blu briefly turned pink and blue on 2 October 2025, when Minister of Health and Population Professor Jean-Rosaire Ibrara inaugurated the joint “Octobre Rose–Novembre Bleu” campaign. Flanked by the recently appointed World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa, Professor Mohamed Yakub Janabi, and a cross-section of oncologists, faith leaders and patient advocates, the minister set an ambitious tone. Under the banner “All United Against Cancer”, the government seeks to weave prevention, early detection and equitable treatment into the fabric of public life, in keeping with the National Health…

A continental beacon for global Patient Safety Day The façade of the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa, nestled in Brazzaville’s Djoué district, was bathed in orange on the evening of 17 September 2025. The hue, adopted worldwide as the chromatic emblem of patient safety, stood out against the Congolese dusk like a navigational light—an image deliberately chosen by organisers to evoke both vigilance and solidarity. By embracing this gesture, Congo signalled its adhesion to an international movement that insists every newborn and every child deserves risk-free medical care from the very first breath. High-level voices insist on zero…