Ethiopia News

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia - The World Health Organization's (WHO) Ethiopia Country Office (WCO-Ethiopia) convened a strategic working session on August 13-14, 2024, to evaluate and refine the ongoing implementation of the 2024-25 Program Budget (PB).

This session is a crucial part of the broader Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) 2021-2025 implementation, which is now in its fourth year, aligned closely with Ethiopia's national health priorities.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Dr. Owen Laws Kaluwa, the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative to Ethiopia, recently led a senior delegation on a crucial mission to assess health activities and strengthen partnerships across the Dire Dawa City Administration and the Harari and Somali regional states. Conducted from July 2 to July 4, 2024, this marked Dr. Kaluwa’s first field mission since assuming his role in April 2024.

An oral cholera vaccination (OCV) campaign was launched to protect at-risk populations in cholera-affected woredas (districts) across eight regions: Afar, Amhara, Oromia, Central Ethiopia, South Ethiopia, Sidma and Somali. Covering 89 woredas, including Internally Displaced People (IDPs) and refugee camps (Sudan), the campaign achieved 98.4% coverage, vaccinating over 10,196,575 people.

Addis Ababa –World Health Organization (WHO) Headquarters, in collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO) and the WHO Ethiopia country office, concluded a three-day meeting focused on sustainable financing mechanisms for tobacco control.

Held from 10 to 12 June 2024, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, the meeting gathered representatives from various member states to discuss innovative ways to finance tobacco control policies.

Addis Ababa ‒ A new, comprehensive framework has been launched to guide health authorities, policy makers and other stakeholders towards elimination of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) as a public health problem in eastern Africa. 

In Amhara region, Ethiopia, where communities have long battled the harsh impacts of drought and disease outbreaks, a transformative initiative has taken root. It began with a coalition of global health partners—World Health Organization, European Commission Humanitarian Aid, the United States Agency for International Development, and the United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund —joining hands with local authorities to address a pressing issue: acute malnutrition among children.

Since November 2021, in Amhara region of Ethiopia has faced a severe humanitarian crisis. This crisis is driven by internal armed conflict, multiple disease outbreaks, and the adverse effects of climate change, leading to both drought and floods. The situation has further deteriorated with an upsurge of cross-border influx due to conflict in the neighboring Sudan.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has donated five motorbikes to support Guinea worm disease surveillance and elimination activities in Ethiopia's Gambella region. These motorbikes will be used to intensify efforts in the endemic districts of Gog and Abobo woredas.

The handover ceremony, held on Thursday, June 20th, 2024, at the regional Health Bureau, highlighted WHO Ethiopia's ongoing commitment to eliminating Guinea worm and other neglected tropical diseases.

Renewed Collaboration to Achieve Eradication

Two rounds of polio vaccination campaigns were conducted using novel Oral Polio Vaccine type 2 (nOPV2) in Tigray region of Ethiopia to prevent transmission and circulation of variant polio viruses. Round one campaign was conducted from 23 - 28 April 2024 in 79 accessible woredas, while second round was from 10 - 15 June 2024 followed by a mop-up vaccination for two days.

World Health Organization (WHO) Ethiopia Office supported the catchup activities as part of the 2024 African Vaccination Week (AVW) implementation with a motto “Attention to zero doze and under vaccinated children”. Nearly an estimated 194,246 zero dose children were identified from the IDPs community in five regions of Ethiopia including Amhara, Tigray, Somali, Oromia and Afar region.