7 April 2008, Addis Ababa -- World Health Day 2008 under the theme, “Protecting Health from Climate Change “was celebrated with a large public gathering in the Sheba Hall of the Ghion Hotel in the presence of the Honorable Minister of Health of Ethiopia His Excellency Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. 
 

Also present on the ceremony were, Honorable State Minister of Health, His Excellency Dr Shiferaw Teklemariam, UN Resident Coordinator in Ethiopia Mr. Fidele Sarassoro, UNEP Representative to AU, UNECA and Ethiopia Dr. Strike Mkandla, WHO Representative to Ethiopia Dr. Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, M. Gaetan Ouedraogo, Director WAC, ILO, UNESCO, representatives of government agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), civil society organizations and other invited guests.

The keynote address was delivered by Dr Fatoumata Nafo-Traore, WHO Representative to Ethiopia. In her speech she noted that, the theme of this year’s World Health Day, “Protecting Health from Climate Change” focuses on a new and emerging issue of the adverse effects of climate change.

This theme is selected because climate change is posing a growing threat to global health security and coping with the challenges requires increased worldwide collaboration among all stakeholders. She also noted that Ethiopia is one the countries where evidence of negative impact of climate changes has been experienced repeatedly over the recent years; malaria outbreaks and most recently the nationwide epidemic of Acute Watery Diarrhea have claimed a lot of resources from the health services at one hand and the mobilization of a robust logistic on the other hand.and commended the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Health and partners for a successful control of these unprecedented epidemics.

In his statement the UN Resident Coordinator emphasized that the need for the international community to provide Countries such as Ethiopia with the needed technical and financial support to strengthen key components of health systems such a disease surveillance and response and health actions in emergencies which are key components to protect public health from the impacts of climate change.  

Dr Strike Mkandla, UNEP representative to AU, UNECA and Ethiopia noted in his statement that authoritative scientific evidence shows that natural climate change and variability is being accelerated by human activity in which greenhouse gases are the culprits and that Africa accounts for less than 3.8% of greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere, yet it is predicted that the continent will suffer most from climate change, manifested in extreme weather events (drought and floods) than many other region.

The honorable Minister of Health Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus thanked the World Health Organization (WHO) for choosing the timely issue of climate change as a theme of discussion on the occasion of World Health Day 2008.

He said that climate change has become a common agenda for all countries, particularly for people of the developing countries, as they are suffering from its adverse effects on their health and other social problems. He also said that the government of Ethiopia is committed to improve the health of the population and that through strengthening the health system of the country it will try to mitigate and cope with the adverse effects of climate change on health. He called on all citizen of the country to actively participate in this endeavor.

The opening ceremony was followed by a session of four technical presentations on the causes and effects of climate change on health. The State Minister of Health Dr Shiferaw Teklemariam served as a moderator of this session. The presentations were made by the Ethiopian Meteorological Agency, Hygiene and Environmental Health and Disease Prevention and Control Departments of the Ministry of Health and WHO Ethiopia country Office.

The four technical presentations were followed by extensive discussions by the audience. During the discussions agreements were reached that more actions are needed to be taken by all stakeholders to mitigate the impact of climate change on health. It was also noted that there is a need for collaboration and dissemination of climate related information, especially to communities. The need for networking and information sharing with partners and including neighboring countries was also recommended.

At the end of the discussion, the State Minister of Health and the moderator of the session urged all participants to share the information gained from the presentations and discussion with those who  did not have the chance to attend the event.

For more information, please contact:

Araya Demissie, Health Information and Promotion Officer
Tel: (251)11 553 1550 Cell phone :( 251)911 250830