This annual report of WHO’s work between July 2019 and June 2020, was finalized four months after the COVID-19 pandemic first arrived in the WHO African Region. Over the past year, WHO country offices, emergency hubs, inter country support teams and the Regional Office for Africa, with the support of WHO headquarters, have worked together in implementing the WHO Thirteenth General Programme of Work, 2019–2023 (GPW 13), which focuses on the global triple billion goal: one billion more people benefitting from universal health coverage; one billion more people better protected from health emergencies; and one billion more people enjoying better health and well-being. The year 2020 constitutes a milestone, with certification of eradication in the WHO African Region, of wild polio virus (WPV). August 2020 marks four years since the last WPV case was reported in the African Region. This is the most significant public health achievement in Africa since the eradication of smallpox 40 years ago.

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