African leaders meet Friday for their annual summit with conflict topping the agenda, especially Nigeria's Boko Haram insurgents, as well as efforts to stem Ebola.

While the official theme of the African Union meeting will be women's empowerment, leaders from the 54-member bloc will once again be beset by a string of crises across the continent.

Nigeria on Thursday confirmed that the H5N1 strain of bird flu has spread from seven to 11 states within a week, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of poultry but no human cases.

Agriculture Minister Akinwumi Adesina told an emergency meeting on the outbreak that "as of yesterday (Wednesday) a total of 11 states, have reported positive cases".

The Ebola epidemic is decreasing but is still present in a third of the areas of the three worst affected west African nations, U.N. Ebola coordinator David Nabarro warned Thursday.

"The number of cases is decreasing week by week and getting to zero in many places... but we still see occasional flare-ups and we still see some surprises with new cases out of our contact lists," Nabarro told Agence France Presse.

The Cambodian government has ordered a hospital to stop advertising so-called virginity restoration procedures, saying it harms the "morality" of society.

A number of Cambodian clinics quietly offer hymenoplasty -- a procedure commonly sought after in countries where a woman's virginity is prized -- but Phnom Penh's Victoria International Hospital is unusual in publicly advertising their services.

The African Union plans to launch an Ebola Solidarity Fund, officials said Wednesday, as aid agency Oxfam warned the continent's leaders needed to keep their promises to boost healthcare.

Oxfam called for a "massive post-Ebola Marshall Plan", referring to the United States aid package to rebuild Europe after World War Two.

Doping in sport is a public health issue, the head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) said Wednesday, because of the spread of substance abuse from elite athletes to school gyms.

"Too many people are taking too many substances they don't even know," WADA director general David Howman told Agence France Presse in an interview in Tokyo.

Lebanon's agriculture ministry took the necessary precautionary measures against the highly pathogenic bird flu virus H5N1 that hit an Israeli poultry farm 37 km from Lebanon's southern border.

Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayyeb told LBCI in an interview on Wednesday that “it is crucial to drive the people's attention to report to the ministry or related authorities any danger they sense in their poultry farms or elsewhere.”

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim warned Tuesday that the world remains "dangerously unprepared" for deadly pandemics like the Ebola outbreak that has killed thousands in West Africa.

"The Ebola outbreak has been devastating in terms of lives lost and the loss of economic growth in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone," Kim said in a speech at Georgetown University in Washington.

Have doctors, therapy and pills had their day in helping to wean people off addiction? 

Shopping vouchers and online social networks may be powerful, modern tools to help people quit smoking and lose weight, two unusual experiments suggested Wednesday.

Girls who consume lots of sugary drinks start menstruating at a younger age, a study said Wednesday.

The findings are important because early onset of menstruation is linked to a higher risk of breast cancer in later life, the paper said, although other experts saw flaws in the probe.