Ethiopia News

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.

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. 

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.

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.

  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.