Ethiopia News

Addis Ababa - The Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) national laboratory accredited by the World Health Organization (WHO) to continue operating its duties as a National Polio Laboratory for Ethiopia. The laboratory-maintained its accreditation since 2001 though the onsite accreditation was not conducted for the past two years due to the pandemic. 

Hailu Sabagadis, Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Officer at WHO Ethiopia, and his team in Benishangul Gumuz Region have been regularly providing onsite and remote technical support to multiple healthcare facilities in the region. Hailu assesses and monitors the facilities' IPC capabilities and proper implementation of COVID-19 and other infection prevention activities.

Meemuna Sadam* is a public health expert in the Somali Region in Ethiopia. Together with her colleagues, she raises awareness and provides education on female genital mutilation (FGM) to communities and also conducts advocacy actions targeting religious leaders. 

Meemuna is also a victim of FGM. “I was only six years old when they cut and sewed me up. The pain was unbearable; I still remember the fear, pain and abandonment I felt.” In the Somali region of Ethiopia, girls usually experience FGM between the ages of 5-10 years. 

When her 11-month old son, Abdulnasir, refused to breastfeed or eat his food, Amina knew something was seriously wrong with him. He had had diarrhea, vomiting and fever for more than a week, but it was when he kept crying in pain, stopped feeding altogether and got very weak that she got alarmed and brought him to Gode Hospital in Somali Region.

A measles vaccination campaign was conducted in Ethiopia from February to March 2022 in SNNP, Somali and Oromia regions targeting more than half a million children aged between 6 months to 10 years. The campaign aimed to stop the spread of a measles outbreak reported from 12 woredas (districts) in three regions: seven woredas of SNNP, one woreda of Guji Zone in Oromia, and four woredas of Somali putting more than 650,000 children at risk.

17 April 2022, Addis Ababa –On 15 April 2022, Ethiopia kicked off the second-round polio campaign with type 2 novel oral polio vaccine (nOPV2) aiming to protect over 16 million under-five children from disability and death due to the ongoing polio outbreak in the country. The campaign is taking place on 15-18 April in all regions except Addis Ababa, Afar and Tigray, where it will be conducted at different later dates.