Ethiopia News

More than 124,000 refugees have fled South Sudan to Ethiopia since the outbreak of violence last December and they are staying in four camps in Ethiopia's western Gambella Regional State, run by the Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs (ARRA) and UNHCR. At Kule refugee camp, which is fast reaching its capacity of 40,000 refugees, the majority of the refugees are women and children in urgent need of improved medical care and sanitation.

Ethiopia Intensifies Action against Vector-Borne Diseases.

WHO Mental Health Report on Refugee Camps in Gambella Region 10 – 17 May 2014, Gambella, Ethiopia

WHO Mental Health Report on Refugee Camps in Gambella Region

Addis Ababa. 29 April 2014 – The 18th meeting of the WHO Alliance for Global Elimination of Trachoma by 2020, GET2020, opened on 28 April 2014 at the United Nations Conference Center in Addis Ababa, in the presence of Dr Kesetebirhan Admasu, Honorable Minister of Health of Ethiopia, Dr Pierre M’pele-Kilabou, WHO Representative in Ethiopia, and Dr Dirk Engels, Director of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases at WHO Headquarters.

BAHIR DAR, 25 April 2014. The past decade has seen unprecedented progress in malaria control. Cases and deaths have declined dramatically worldwide, but most especially in sub-Saharan Africa. World Malaria Day, 25 April 2014, highlighted the progress to date and joint efforts to defeat malaria under the theme "Invest in the Future, Defeat Malaria". In Ethiopia, the main commemoration was held in Bahir Dar, Amhara Region, which is a malaria endemic area where great progress has been achieved to control malaria. 

The African Vaccination Week kicked off in Ethiopia on the 23rd of April 2014 with a colourful event in Gondar, Amhara Region. Click on the images below for a full view of images from the event.

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01: African Vaccination Week 2014 kicked off with a colourful launch ceremony in Gondar, Amhara Region, Ethiopia.

Gondar. 23 April 2014 – The fourth African Vaccination Week (AVW) kicked off with the theme "Vaccination – a shared responsibility" in Gondar, Amhara Region, on 23 April 2014. The goal of AVW, which runs from the 23rd until the 29th of April, is to strengthen the immunization programme by drawing attention to the importance, the need and the right of all persons to be protected against vaccine-preventable diseases. 

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Kulle Refugee Camp in Gambella Region, western Ethiopia, currently hosts about 35,000 of the 97,000 refugees from South Sudan taking shelter in three camps in the region. Almost 66 per cent of the refugees in Kulle are women and children. The WHO assessment team led by the WHO Representative comprising technical experts in emergency and outbreak response, malaria, water and sanitation, immunization, and communication, witnessed the concerning health conditions at the camp on 22 April 2014 whilst assessing the situation to urgently intensify WHO technical support.

Jigjiga. 17 April 2014 – The World Health Organization (WHO) and Somali Region are poised to intensify efforts to interrupt polio transmission in the region and in Ethiopia. A high-level WHO delegation, led by the WHO Representative to Ethiopia, visited the Somali Region on 14 and 15 April to affirm WHO's support to the region and discuss increased strategic interventions to control the outbreak.

Hawassa. 7 April - More than half the world’s population is at risk of diseases such as dengue, malaria, yellow fever, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis and lymphatic filariasis, carried by mosquitoes, flies, ticks, water snails and other vectors. Every year, more than one billion people are infected and more than one million die from these diseases.