Ethiopia News

Ethiopia conducts a reactive yellow fever vaccination campaign to protect communitie...

A yellow fever vaccination campaign targeting 700 000 people in Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) and Oromia regions was conducted in November 2020, achieving 93% of the target.  The campaign aimed to stop the spread of an outbreak that was first reported in Enor-Ener Woreda in Gurage Zone of SNNPR by vaccinating eligible age groups in 12 woredas (districts), one of them in Oromia, that were identified as potential epicenters of the outbreak.

WHO works with the health and education sectors to ensure COVID-19 prevention measur...

Schools in Ethiopia are reopening after nine months of closure following the confirmation of the first COVID-19 case in the country in March 2020. Since March, the disease has affected over 100 000 people, killed nearly two thousand, and disrupted normal life activities including education. However, in September 2020, the Government lifted the national state of emergency, which was in place since March of the same year, relaxing some preventive measures initially instituted to curb the spread, and paving the way to plan for safe school reopening. 

Ethiopia conducts polio vaccination campaigns to ensure the country remains polio fr...

In November 2020, Ethiopia conducted an oral polio vaccination campaign targeting 7.1 million under-5 children in four regions and two city administrations despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The campaign was conducted in Harari, Oromia, SNNP and Somali regions, and Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa cities.  This campaign, which attained 103% of the targeted coverage, was the second-round of a polio vaccination campaign that was conducted in October 2020 also targeting 7.1 million children under-five years in the same locations and attaining 97% coverage.

How Ethiopia prepared its health workforce for the COVID-19 response

Health workers are vital to the global response to COVID-19. With resources stretched to the limit and health systems under immense pressure, countries need more health workers on the ground to tackle the pandemic while continuing to provide other essential health services. Ethiopia has been preparing its health workforce to respond to COVID-19, build a resilient health system and move a step closer towards health for all.

Talk radio, teletherapy expands mental health services in Ethiopia

The Erq Ma’ed – or ‘reconciliation table’ – social enterprise has mixed talk radio, communications and counselling to boost the mental health and wellbeing of Ethiopians for nearly a decade. With the added pressure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, their journey of innovation to meet people’s mental health needs amid unprecedented times has been further spurred on.

COVID-19 genome sequencing laboratory network launches in Africa

With several African countries now expanding COVID-19 testing, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have launched a network of laboratories to reinforce genome sequencing of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus that causes COVID-19, in Africa.

The Minister of Health of Ethiopia launches a joint assessment of the Health Sector ...

The Ethiopian Minister of Health, Dr Lia Tadesse, officially launched the Joint Assessment of the National Health Strategy (JANS) for Ethiopia on 21 August 2020 in a virtual launching meeting. The JANS will be conducted by an assessment team comprising independent international experts, including experts from the UN system, the World Bank, and development partners. The JANS team presented its plan of action for the conduct and delivery of the draft assessment report, and received important inputs to guide the JANS.

Using experiences from the Polio Programme in the response to  COVID-19 Pandemic in ...


  Many frontline workers are putting their lives on-the-line in the response to COVID-19 Pandemic.  They put their lives at risk daily, tasked with the critical mission of controlling the spread and mitigating the impact of this pandemic. Mrs. Berhane Beyene is one of those heroines with the mission-essential task of keeping laboratory surveillance and detection of COVID-19 in motion.