WHO Country office Ethiopia is playing an essential role in supporting the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) to prepare for, respond to and recover from emergencies with public health consequences. To deliver on its core commitments and performance standards, the country office fulfils four critical functions in emergency response: leadership, information, and technical expertise and core services.

In Ethiopia WHO country office fulfills the four critical functions to ensure that the country is ready to respond to   any crisis and other emergencies including disease outbreaks by, providing technical and financial support to the MOH and Regional Health Bureaus. Accordingly, surveillance/early warning, preparedness, and response activities were supported against public health threats such as diarrheal diseases, Hepatitis E, Ebola virus, yellow fever and dengue fever in 2014 and 2015.

WHO facilitated coordination and provided technical support during Hepatitis E outbreak in Gambella, which affected over 1000 refugees in 2014. Currently WHO Ethiopia and Partners support emergency preparedness and response activities in Gambella Regional State, where there are over 265,000 refugees, fleeing from the violence in South Sudan.  Training on disease surveillance and outbreak management, focusing on Cholera, Yellow Fever and Ebola was given to 357 health workers and 183 health extension workers were oriented.  Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) were established and 61 members were trained in all outbreak prone districts. These health workers have key roles in early case detection, reporting, investigating, preventing and controlling outbreaks.  

WHO Ethiopia procured and dispatched emergency drug kits, including four Diarrheal Disease Kits (DDK) and four Interagency Emergency Health Kits (IAEHK) to Gambella Region. The DDKs are enough to treat around 60 percent of Acute Watery Diarrheal cases and IAEHK benefit 40,000 people addressing different communicable diseases in the region.

An external assessment facilitated by WHO on June 2015 confirmed that the transmission of wild polio virus has been interrupted in Ethiopia. The last confirmed case was in January 2014 following an outbreak in the Horn of Africa in 2015. Nevertheless, WHO and partners have continued their effort to sustain the achievement.  This year alone a total of 296,962 refugees’ children received polio vaccination at entry points and camps in Benishangul, Somali and Gambella regions through four rounds polio campaign. WHO also backs independent monitoring besides its technical supervisory activities to ensure that all children are vaccinated.

Ebola virus disease preparedness has been underway in Ethiopia since the outbreak was declared in West Africa in 2014.  WHO supported training of over 800 health professionals and support staff on surveillance, infection prevention and control, and the use of personal protective equipment.  Ebola Personal Protective Equipment worth of $94,951.00 was delivered to FMOH. Moreover, financial and technical assistance was provided to Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) to carry out an Ebola preparedness assessment in all regions to determine their preparedness status.

In 2014, WHO provided technical support on yellow fever surveillance and outbreak management in Oromia, Gambella and SNNP regions. Over 45,000 people were vaccinated in Gamo Gofa and yellow fever surveillance and outbreak management training was provided for 242 health professionals from the three regions.  

Ethiopia reported Dengue outbreak for the first time in 2013, when the disease was spreading rapidly around the world. WHO Ethiopia provided technical assistance in preventing and controlling the outbreak in Dire Dawa City Administration. 

Working closely government of Ethiopia and partners, WHO Ethiopia remains the key technical lead in public health emergency preparedness and response in Ethiopia.

For more information, please contact:

Dr. Admas Tefera
Health Security and Emergency Program Coordinator
Admast [at] who.int (Admast[at]who[dot]int)

or 

Kibnesh Chala
Communication Officer/Consultant
Tel: +251 115 534777

Photo: WHO Ethiopia/Kibnesh C., Selamawit Y., Abay H., Teshome G.