Eritrea News

One of the targets of the Millennium Development Goals is to reduce child mortality by two third between 1990 and 2015. According to the 2008 assessment of countdown to 2015, Eritrea is on track to meet this goal, with consistent progress in reducing child deaths with an average annual reduction of around 4% over the last decade.

Still, infant and under5 mortality rates in Eritrea are considered high in reference to the MDG 4 target, which is 49/1000 Live Births by 2015.

To provide Eritrea’s HIV/AIDS stakeholders inputs into the development of the Global Health Sector Strategy for HIV/AIDS 2011-2015, the WHO Country Office in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and UNAIDS conducted a consultation meeting on 7th September 2010.

About 40 participants, including Heads of UN agencies, representatives of embassies, government officials, national associations, federations and societies and Members of the UN HIV/AIDS Joint Team Group took part to this consultation.

To adopt and finalize the five year action plan for strengthening the National Codex Committee in Eritrea Ministry of Agriculture with the WHO support conducted a workshop on September 8, 2010.

In this workshop about 40 participants from key government institutions as well as representatives from WHO and FAO serving on the committee gathered to review the draft plan and provide their inputs for its finalization. 

The Ministry of Health with the support of WHO and World Bank conducted a three day consensus building workshop to finalize a five year strategic plan for Human Resources for Health (HRH) in Eritrea.

The workshop which continued from 15 to 17 September was officially opened by the Honourable Minister of Health, Ms Amina Nurhusien. In her remarks, the Minister emphasised that the HRH strategic plan which will be the outcome of this workshop should be in line with the National Policies in general and that of the Ministry of Health in particular. 

World AIDS Day was nationally commemorated in Eritrea on December 1, 2010 under the theme, “Universal Access and Human Rights,” in the capital city.

In Asmara, the event was marked at the Bahti Meskerem Square in the presence of Zoba Maekel officials, UN heads of agencies, community representatives, students and other invited guests.

The Tenth Eritrean National Book Fair was held from 18 to 27 March 2011 in Expo Compound under the theme “School Libraries: foundation to Reading Culture”. The fair which is an annual public event was officially opened by Mr. Semere Russom, Minister of Education.

The main objective of the book fair was to promote more and more reading habit among the society. Throughout the week visitors have expressed their appreciation of the book fare. Even some requested to have access of WHO materials.

World Health Day was nationally commemorated in Eritrea on April 7, 2011 under the theme, “Combat Drug Resistance: No action today, No cure tomorrow”.

The event was marked through a conference and a panel discussion on key issues on drug resistance in the presence of high officials from the Ministry of Health, physicians, pharmacists, Orotta School of Medicine and Asmara College of Health Science staff and students, UN representatives as well as community representatives.

Eritrea, adhering to the global commitments to tackle the appalling human and economic losses from road traffic accidents, launched the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020.

The launching ceremony was held on the 11th of June 2011 in the capital city in the presence of government officials from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Transportation and communication, WHO and UNICEF representatives as well as representatives from key stake holders and the community.

To promote and sensitize all staff on the objectives of the international women’s day, the WHO Country Office marked the event on the 8th of March at the WCO Cafeteria.

The WR gave a brief opening remark that emphasized on the critical role the female staff members have on the day to day delivery of the WHO Eritrea Country Office. Female represent 64% of the WCO staff.

Eritrea has been officially certified free of Dracunculiasis transmission.

This was officiated with a Letter of Certification from the WHO Director General, Dr Margaret Chan, which was delivered by Dr Idrissa Sow, WHO Representative in Eritrea, to Ms Amina Nurhusien, the Minister of Health in December 2011.

Eritrea is among the nine countries certified by the International Commission for the Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication (ICCDE) in 2011. In the African region, three countries namely Burkina Faso, Eritrea and Togo were certified dracunculiasis free.