Ethiopia News

May 18, 2016: The 6th African Vaccination Week has been officially launched in Ethiopia, in Assosa town of Benishangul Gumuz region. The launching was very colorful attended by partners including WHO, UNICEF, Rotary, CHAI, PATH, JSI/UI-FHS, Core Group, CUSO, World Vision, IRC as well as by the national and local medias and the celebration will continue with serious of events throughout the week from 18-24 May, 2016.

BISHOFTU - 10 May 2016 | Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) of the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) in collaboration with the World Health Organization HQ and Country Office in Ethiopia (WCO) trained 30 experts drawn from EPHI, the office of Disaster Risk Management and Food Security (DRMFS), and academia.

ADDIS ABABA, 17 May 2016 | An Official Handover Ceremony of Rotary’s Grant

The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International grants Eth. Birr 88.8 million for operational support to ENDPOLIONOW in Ethiopia through WHO- Ethiopia. As long standing supporter of polio eradication initiative for the last 25 years, Rotary’s grant globally is bout USD 2.3 Billion.

Health workers in Ethiopia are mostly women and they are playing a key role in immunization. In addition to many other responsibilities that they have, they are serving their communities by immunizing their children against vaccine preventable diseases towards saving lives of millions of children. Polio vaccination campaigns in Ethiopia rely on the commitment of local health workers who visit each and every house to ensure that no eligible child is left behind.

Central EPI Team members supported the Ethiopian Food, Medicine and Health Care Administration and Control Authority (EFMHACA) to conduct a training of trainers (TOT) on Adverse events following immunization (AEFI) causality assessment for regional task force members in Adama town. The TOT was conducted in two rounds from 28th March - 1st April, 2016 and from April 12-15, 2016 respectively.

A coordination meeting was conducted at the National Polio Laboratory in Addis Ababa on April 5, 2015. The participants of this meeting included the Head of the Polio and Measles Laboratory, senior laboratory experts, and staff from WHO. The purpose of the meeting was to review the 2015 polio and measles laboratory performance.  

The Inter-governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) has held a resource mobilization conference for the establishment of a regional cancer center of excellence in Addis Ababa to strengthen and enhance cancer services in its member states has been held at the UN-ECA Africa hall in Ethiopia on 20-21 April, 2016.

The Ministry of Health, with support from partners launched the house to house polio National Immunization Days (NIDs) on Friday, 22nd of April, 2016 to vaccinate under five (0 – 59 months of age) children at national level. More than two years have passed since the onset of paralysis of the last case of WPV in January 05, 2014 and Ethiopia is currently polio free and this continued effort is to re-enforce country’s polio free status.

Ethiopia launched emergency measles vaccination campaign on Friday April 22, 2016 targeting over 500 drought affected hot spot woredas in 10 regions (except AA) which includes Gambella; Benishangul Gumuz, Oromia, Amhara, SNNPR, Tigray, Afar, Somali, Dire Dawa and Harari.