Ethiopia News

The World Health Organization lauds the initiative of the Government of the United States of America to strengthen their partnership with the Government of Ethiopia towards enhanced implementation of the International Health Regulation (IHR) side by side with achieving the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA).

A meeting between the Government of Ethiopia and the US Government regarding the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) was held on 17 June 2015. 

The rainy season brings with it the promise of better harvest, greener plains and valleys and abundance of feeds for cattle to produce highly nutritious milk and meat products. It also at the same time poses health threats in the form of possible disease outbreaks like Malaria and Acute Watery Diarrhea that could result from poodles of stagnant water, poor sanitary and hygiene conditions and impending floods. This is particularly true for the South Sudanese refugees and the surrounding host communities in Gambella.

The International Day of the Midwife was celebrated globally on 5 May 2015 and commemorated in Ethiopia on 7 May 2015 with the theme, “Midwives for a better tomorrow.”

With the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) coming to an end in September 2015, this is indeed a special year to highlight the role of midwives in the achievement of MDG 4 and in the progress towards the achievement of MDG 5 in Ethiopia. The recognition of midwives this year is key also in light of the world’s move to the UN Sustainable Development Goals beyond 2015.

The external assessment team that conducted the final Polio outbreak assessment in Ethiopia on 8-12 June 2015 confirmed that Ethiopia has successfully interrupted polio transmission. This encouraging conclusion was received nearly two years after the outbreak was confirmed in the Horn of Africa and outbreak activities initiated to respond to and interrupt Polio transmission.

2 JUN 2015 | ADDIS ABABA - A national stakeholder’s workshop was held today to validate the National Strategy and Plan of Action for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Development in Ethiopia.

As part of its commitment to provide technical support to Ethiopia’s efforts to ensure the health of its people, the WHO Ethiopia Country Office engages in supportive supervision of research and health intervention across the country. On 7-9 May 2015, a WHO delegation led by Dr Pierre M’pele, WHO Representative, was on mission in Lalibela of Amhara Region in northern Ethiopia for supportive supervision of the ongoing non-communicable diseases (NCD) STEPs Survey. 

The UN Global Road Safety Week, commemorated in Addis Ababa with the theme, Save Kids’ Lives (#SaveKidsLives) brings students and teachers of schools with high risk for road accidents due to proximity to heavy road traffic together with officials from the Ministries of Health and Transport, the Addis Ababa Bureaus of Education, Health and Transport and the Federal and Addis Ababa Traffic Police as well as WHO for a dialogue on saving children’s lives from road accidents.

The Government of Ethiopia announced the achievement of the MDG 7c target on access to drinking water supply on 23 March 2015. Today, over 52 million people in Ethiopia have access to clean and safe water, compared to only 6 million people in 1990. This achievement was confirmed after the WHO/UNICEF Global Joint Monitoring Programme for Water and Sanitation (JMP) mission to Ethiopia in November 2014. 

The last week of April each year is marked by the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners as World Immunization Week. It aims to raise public awareness of how immunization saves lives, encouraging people everywhere to vaccinate themselves and their children against deadly diseases. This year, World Immunization Weekwas observed on 24-30 April with the message, “Close the Immunization Gap”. As part of the week-long event, the African Vaccination Week was held with the theme, “Vaccination: a gift for life”. 

The eighth World Malaria Day was celebrated for the eighth time on 25 April 2015 in Hawassa, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR) in a colorful event that called for renewed commitment and increased investment towards Malaria control and elimination. The message of this year’s World Malaria Day is, “Invest in the Future.