Ethiopia News

Achieving MDG targets for better health in Ethiopia

Fifteen years ago the world united around a common agenda to tackle poverty. This agenda is what we know as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); it committed global leadership to a new partnership to reduce extreme poverty and set out a series of time-bound targets with a deadline of 2015.

As the MDG end date approaches, it is time to reflect in what was achieved during the past years spent on pursuing the MDG targets. 

Every day, approximately 35 women die in Ethiopia from preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth. Although maternal deaths have declined by 70% in Ethiopia between 1990 and 2013, maternal mortality remains unacceptably high and more efforts are needed to meet the Millennium Development Goal 5 target of 267 per 100,000 live births. Access to antenatal care in pregnancy, skilled care during childbirth, and care and support in the weeks after childbirth are what makes the difference between life and death.

The evolving Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak highlights the risk of cases being imported into unaffected countries. WHO’s preparedness activities aim to ensure that all countries are ready to effectively and safely detect, investigate and report potential EVD cases, and to mount an effective response. Ethiopia is among the high priority countries for WHO and partners’ support due to the volume of travellers arriving to and transiting in Addis Ababa every day. 

ADDIS ABABA | 14 July 2015 - Ethiopian Minister of Health Dr Kesetebirhan Admasu, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Dr Margaret Chan, The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) Chief Executive Officer Dr Seth Berkley and UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Ms Yoka Brandt participated in a high level polio vaccination event at Selam Health Centre in Addis Ababa. Also present at the event were UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibe, US Ambassador Ms Patricia M.

ADDIS ABABA | 15 July 2015 - On 14 July 2015, His Excellency, Mr Demeke Mekonnen, Deputy Prime Minister of Ethiopia, launched an ambitious 10-year national strategy and plan of action to develop local pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity in order to increase access to locally manufactured, quality-assured, medicines. The World Health Organization (WHO), in collaboration with the European Union Commission and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, provided technical assistance to the Government of Ethiopia in the development of this strategy, the first of its kind in the country.

The African Union First Ladies made a call for action on 31 January 2015 for continent-wide efforts, leadership and political commitment to kick polio out of Africa. The First Ladies agreed to advocate for a polio-free Africa as a top priority for their governments in 2015 at an event jointly organized by the Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV/AIDS (OAFLA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (WHO, Rotary, CDC and UNICEF) at the African Union Headquarters in Addis Ababa.

Jigjiga/Wardher, 9 February 2015 - A pledge of commitment for a polio-free Ethiopia was made on 8 February 2015 in Jigjiga and Warher at the launch of the polio national immunization days (NIDs) in Somali Regional State. Ethiopia has been polio free since 5 January 2014, but the risk of polio cases in Horn of Africa prevails. The campaign running until 11 February 2015 aims to reach over one million children under the age of five in the region.

Ethiopia's Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) and development partners signed a Joint Financial Arrangement (JFA) on 15 July 2015 to commit resources to a pooled funding mechanism for health. The signing ceremony took place at the side-lines of the Third Financing for Development (FFD3) conference in Addis Ababa.

19 FEBRUARY 2015. GENEVA/LONDON/ADDIS ABABA – TheWorld Health Organization (WHO) urges affected countries to scale up their investment in tackling 17 neglected tropical diseases in order to improve the health and well-being of more than 1.5 billion people. This investment would represent as little as 0.1% of current domestic expenditure on health in affected low and middle income countries for the period 2015-2030.

WHO Urges Affected Countries to Invest More to Tackle Neglected Tropical Diseases