Ethiopia News

Advancement in technology and medicine appear to have reached the highest notch, at the same time the world is at high risk of falling to an era when bacteria reign and people die because of infections.

ADDIS ABABA, 15 December 2015 | More than 17 million children aged 5–14 years will be treated for two neglected tropical diseases – soil-transmitted helminthiases (intestinal worms) and schistosomiasis (bilharzia) between 23 November 2015 and 29 February 2016. The programme by the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health started late last month in Hawassa in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region.

The country-wide initiative of the Ministry of Health is supported by the Ministry of Education and aims at reducing the parasitic burden of both diseases. 

ADDIS ABABA, 16 December 2015 | Ethiopia joins over 130 countries to introduce Inactivated Polio Virus (IPV) vaccine against poliomyelitis.

ADDIS ABABA, 11 December 2015 | The World Health Organization (WHO) is working alongside the Ethiopian Ministry of Health and 22 partner organizations to respond to the health needs of 3.6 million people vulnerable to health and nutrition emergencies due to the El Niño weather phenomenon. Humanitarian partners came together in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, today to launch joint plans for the crisis response in 2016.

ADDIS ABABA, 16 November 2015 | Climate change is threatening to exacerbate health problems in Ethiopia, the World Health Organization warns in a new Climate and Health Country Profile 2015, published today. Increased temperatures, intense heatwaves, more extreme rainfall, floods and landslides, are expected to intensify existing challenges of communicable diseases, food insecurity and poverty unless timely action is taken.

The United Nations in Ethiopia celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the United Nations in a series of events on 24 October 2015 in the presence of Government and United Nations high level officials, 
the diplomatic community, civil servants, representatives of the public, students, and the United Nations staff and family. 

The celebrations in Ethiopia were themed along the global theme: Stronger UN. Better World. The events highlighted the UN’s contribution to human rights, peace and security, development, health, gender equality, and protecting the planet. 

A six-week international training of trainers (ToT) on Planning and Managing Malaria Control Programmes for Health Workers of Anglophone African Countries got concluded successfully in Addis Ababa on 9 October 2015. The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) organized the training course that brought together 34 participants from 14 Anglophone countries in the WHO Africa Region.

A Meningitis A Phase III and Measles integrated campaign, launched on 26 October 2015 in Afar, Amhara, Dire Dawa, Hareri, Oromia (East Harerghe and West Harerghe) and Tigray regions, has been completed successfully. Preliminary administrative data in regions where campaign is completed revealed a total of 11,645,517 individuals vaccinated for Men A and 725,469 children vaccinated for Measles showing coverage of 96% and 88% respectively. The campaign was planned for 10 days, but was extended to 2 days in some zones for mop-up activities for reaching children unreached during 10 days.

ADDIS ABABA, 11 November 2015 | Nearly 90 communities, non-governmental (NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) are meeting for a landmark consultation in Addis Ababa today to ramp up efforts to end tuberculosis (TB) - the leading infectious disease killer worldwide along with HIV.

Every year cancer claims thousands of lives in Ethiopia. The country responds to the growing burden of cancer by launching a five year cancer control strategy on 26 October 2015 in Adama Town. The Strategy is said to avert the health and economic impact of cancer by focusing mainly on prevention, and early detection.