In response to the emergency situation caused by the El Niño weather phenomenon, the World Health Organization (WHO) has deployed a team of experts to work with the WHO Ethiopia Country Office team in coordinating the health response, assessing health impacts and needs, and strengthening disease early warning and outbreak management systems. The WHO Representative for Ethiopia gives overall direction and guidance to the emergency response activities of the newly reorganized emergency response team. 

Ethiopia has launched a large-scale nationwide mass drug administration (MDA) against soil-transmitted helminths (STH) and Schistosomiasis (also known as bilharzia), targeting 17 million school-aged children. The MDA aims to cover children aged 5-14 years, encompassing children enrolled in schools as well as those within the same age range but not enrolled in schools.

On Monday, 14 December 2015, the United Nations (UN) and the Government of Ethiopia signed the fourth United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) that will be in effect for five years, 2016-2020. 

A global consultation to draw lessons from the development of Single TB and HIV Concept Notes and defining the way forward for joint TB and HIV programming was held in Addis Ababa on 18-20 November 2015.

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.

Abuja 21 December 2015: The Federal Government of Nigeria has signed an agreement with the German Government to spend 10 Million Euros (€10,000,000) to improve and sustain gains made in polio eradication in the country. The ceremony was conducted in Abuja on 21 December, 2015.

KAMPALA, 18 December 2015:- Ugandan hosted the twenty-first session of the Joint Action Forum (JAF) of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) at Speke Resort Munyonyo, 15th to 16th December 2015, under the theme ‘Forty Years of Onchocerciasis Control in Africa’ in Kampala.

Banjul - 17 December 2015: The United Nation System  in the Gambia  joined the rest of the world in commemorating UN Day 2015 which was  observed on 24th October 2015. This year’s commemoration coincided with UN’s 70th anniversary under a global theme: Strong UN-Better World”.  The ceremony was hosted at the Kairaba Beach Hotel and was graced by the Diplomatic Mission, Senior government officials, civil society organizations and other partners, UN Staff and students.

KAMPALA, 17 December 2015:- The African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) founded in 1995 has been formally closed and a new entity – the Expanded Special Project for the Elimination of Neglected Tropical Diseases (ESPEN), with an expanded mandate, proposed to replace it. ESPEN was formally introduced to delegates at the 21st session of the Joint Action Forum (JAF) of the African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control (APOC) that has concluded in Kampala, Uganda.

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