Ethiopia News

ADDIS ABABA | 15 July 2015 - On 14 July 2015, His Excellency, Mr Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, launched an ambitious 10-year national strategy and plan of action to develop local pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in order to increase access to locally manufactured, quality-assured, medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the European Union Commission and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, provided technical assistance to the Government of Ethiopia in the development of this strategy, the first of its kind in the country.

Ethiopia's Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) and development partners signed a Joint Financial Arrangement (JFA) on 15 July 2015 to commit resources to a pooled funding mechanism for health. The signing ceremony took place at the side-lines of the Third Financing for Development (FFD3) conference in Addis Ababa.

ADDIS ABABA | 14 July 2015 - Ethiopian Minister of Health Dr Kesetebirhan Admasu, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr Margaret Chan, The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) Chief Executive Officer Dr Seth Berkley and UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ms Yoka Brandt participated in a high level polio vaccination event at Selam Health Centre in Addis Ababa. Also present at the event were UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibe, US Ambassador Ms Patricia M.

Congenital Rubella Syndrome (CRS) surveillance training and experience sharing workshop was held in Harare, Zimbabwe from 17-19 June 2015. The participants came from 11 African countries, including Ethiopia. The workshop was facilitated by WHO's Inter Country Support Team of Eastern and Southern Africa (IST/ESA) and the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

Achieving MDG targets for better health in Ethiopia

Fifteen years ago the world united around a common agenda to tackle poverty. This agenda is what we know as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); it committed global leadership to a new partnership to reduce extreme poverty and set out a series of time-bound targets with a deadline of 2015.

As the MDG end date approaches, it is time to reflect in what was achieved during the past years spent on pursuing the MDG targets. 

Six STOP mission consultants who have been working in Ethiopia since February 2015 finalized their field work in June 2015. The 45th STOP team presented their final review of achievements and recommendation to FMoH on 27 June 2015.

The post introduction evaluation of the rotavirus vaccine was conducted in Ethiopia 15-27 June 2015. The purpose of the evaluation was to assess how the introduction of rotavirus vaccine in 2013 impacted the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI) and provide recommendations for improvement. Furthermore, it drew lessons from the rotavirus introduction to inform planning process for the introduction of other new vaccines.

The HPV Demo Programme Aims to Vaccinate 14,434 Girls

Over the past 20 years, Ethiopia has risen from scoring the worst in global health indicators to a success story of expanding health services. Global development assistance is said to have been instrumental in this process of growing access to primary health care. 

ADDIS ABABA | 3 June - The Task Force on Immunization (TFI) met in Ethiopia from 30 June to 1 July to review the progress made in improving immunization in the African region and to strategize for the future. The TFI is the principal technical advisory group to the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Africa (WHO AFRO) on overall regional policies and strategies related to vaccines and immunization.

The two day meeting was attended by several Global EPI partners and the Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia.