I-Verify, an app-based health products tracker, provides regulators as well as public users with real-time visibility into movement of health commodities and products from manufacturer to the point of issue. The Ethiopia Food and Drug Authority of Ethiopia already uses the app to detect and authenticate health commodities.
The application used to verify the authenticity of a product at any point in the supply chain by anyone and enables to track and trace health commodities from manufacturer to point of issue – throughout the health import process and supply chain. It’s also used to report unauthorized, defected, and counterfeit products in the market.
During the year 2020/21, USAID-funded Digital Health Activity (DHA) reported that it has supported the optimization of the i-Verify application to detect counterfeit products including fake COVID-19 vaccine.
Addis Ababa December, December 31, 2021 (FBC) – An Ethiopian diaspora from Atlanta, Georgia, is going to open a state of the art dialysis unit at Menelik II Referral Hospital.
It is to be recalled that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed made a call to the Ethiopian diaspora to come home for the upcoming Ethiopian Christmas and Epiphany holidays.
Among the diaspora who responded to the call, Tigist Abebe, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Yeabe Medical Center and Rehabilitation said she has been doing various activities to start dialysis service with an outlay of over 10 million birr in Ethiopia over the past four months.
Tigist said some 30 machines have been delivered to the hospital and it is expected to start operation soon.
She added that the coming of the diaspora has many advantages, noting that even before the PM's call for homecoming, “some of us were exchanging ideas to come and do something to our country.”
Following the call, the motivation of the diaspora has grown greatly and they need to contribute to their motherland, following our footstep, the CEO stated.
There may be challenges like in any less developed countries, Tigist noted, adding that many things are being done by the government and a lot of things are being facilitated now.
From my own experience, a lot has changed. As a member of the diaspora, we do not have to take advantage of it and we have to be treated like any other fellow Ethiopian.
“I am very excited about this diaspora home coming and their response. But for those diaspora who come and request what to do, there are many things that they can see. What we need to do is take responsibility, contribute their share to schools, hospitals and support family to achieve something in a year,” she elaborated.
According to her, the diaspora need to leave their legacy in their country.
As many health centers are located in off-grid areas, Stiftung Solarenergie, Solar Energy Foundation Ethiopia, and GREEN LAMP collaborated on the sustainability of installed Solar Suitcases for Health Centers in Ethiopia. Over 240 Solar Suitcases have been installed in various parts of the country.
The installed Solar Suitcases are mostly in maternity departments to save the lives of women and children. Green Lamp is now collaborating with the Stiftung Solarenergie-Solar Energy Foundation to ensure the Solar Suitcases’ long-term viability.
Ethiopian Pharmaceutical Supply Agency has qualified for ISO 9000:2015 certification by employing several quality management principles specifies in the terms and definitions of all quality management and quality management system standards developed by ISO/TC 176.
The Minister of Health, Dr. Liya Tadesse, on the occasion said the Ministry and the Agency have been working to improve the overall health service delivery system in the country.
The Minister also said that the reforms being implemented in the country’s health sector can be used as an example to other public sector institutions for quality management practice and services delivery.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on 23 February 1947, the organization develops and publishes worldwide technical, industrial and commercial standards.
On August 5, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) donated three real-time PCR machines to the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) for distribution to Afar, Somali, and Gambella regions to strengthen their COVID-19 testing capacity. In addition, 5000 Abbot real-time PCR test kits and 10,000 Abbott Ag rapid diagnostic kits (RDT) were also donated during the handing over ceremony.
“Expanding the capacity for COVID-19 testing is key to slowing down COVID-19 transmission and reducing sickness and death in the country,” said Dr Indrajit Hazarika, Health Systems Strengthening lead at WHO Ethiopia. “WHO is pleased to contribute to the Ethiopian government’s efforts to expand laboratory capacity for COVID-19 testing in all regions, which is key for timely case detection, isolation and treatment.”
A diagnostic test helps to confirm whether patients presenting for care with COVID-like symptoms actually have the virus. It also allows cases to be appropriately managed, and public health measures such as isolation or quarantine to be put into place as soon as possible. Additionally, diagnostics is an important tool in contact tracing as testing all contacts of confirmed COVID-19 cases is critical to interrupting the chain of transmission of COVID-19 in a community. Lastly, diagnostics provide us with tools for surveillance and rapid situation analysis to monitor disease trends over time and assess the effectiveness of control interventions.
Since the beginning of 2020, WHO has been working with EPHI in coordinating the assessment and strengthening of public, private, and university laboratories in the country for COVID-19 testing. WHO supported the training of laboratory staff, and helped equip laboratories, and install a digital information management system for accurate data processing and reporting. A national laboratory network has also been established for timely result dissemination to ensure a coordinated pandemic response.
The World Health Organization (WHO) South Sudan Country Office held a consultative meeting with the senior management of the Ministry of Health on 6 November 2021. The aim of the meeting was to align WHO workplans for 2022-2023 biennium with country priorities.
WHO plans in two-year cycles (biennium) with the current biennial plan 2020-2021 ending on 31 December 2021.
The meeting was officiated by Dr Fabian Ndenzako, the WHO Representative a.i. for South Sudan and Dr Paul Samson Baba, Acting Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health. In attendance were Directors General and other top officials from the Ministry of Health as well as WHO Country office technical staff.
During his opening remarks, Dr Ndenzako underscored the need for enhanced teamwork and effective coordination between the Ministry and health stakeholders including WHO to improve the health security for all people in South Sudan.
“WHO is here to support the Ministry of Health, and this consultation meeting provides an opportunity to reflect on how WHO and the Ministry of Health can work together more effectively to improve the health outcomes of the people in South Sudan.” Said Dr Ndenzako.
According to Dr Paul Samson Baba, Acting Undersecretary at the Ministry of Health, the technical support, and guidance that WHO has been providing has led to the country registering some positive health outcomes including responding to numerous emergencies with public health consequences and in a fragile, conflict-affected, and compounded with severe food insecurity, floods, and disease outbreaks.
The Omicron variant is reaching more countries in Africa and weekly COVID-19 cases in the continent surged by 93%. However, there are signs of hope as preliminary data indicates that hospitalizations across South Africa remain low.
Africa recorded more than 107 000 cases in the week ending on 5 December, up from around 55 000. Five countries accounted for 86% of the cases reported over the past week and all the sub-regions in the continent – up from one the previous week – reported increases in new cases. Southern Africa recorded the highest increase with a 140% hike mainly driven by an uptick in South Africa.
Research is being intensified to determine whether Omicron is fuelling the surge in cases seen in Africa. Emerging data from South Africa indicates that Omicron may cause less severe illness. Data which looked at hospitalizations across South Africa between 14 November and 4 December found that ICU occupancy was only 6.3 % – which is very low compared with the same period when the country was facing the peak linked to the Delta variant in July. Data from the same two-week period from one of the health districts most impacted by Omicron found that out of more than 1200 admissions, 98 were receiving supplemental oxygen and only four were on ventilation. This is very preliminary data with a small sample size and most of the people admitted to the health facilities were under the age of 40. As the clinical profile of patients changes, the impact of Omicron may change.
Africa currently accounts for 46% of the nearly 1000 Omicron cases reported by 57 countries across different regions of the world. So far, 10 African countries have reported cases. Despite the widespread global presence of Omicron, more than 70 countries have imposed travel bans that are mainly targeting southern African countries – some of which have yet to report any Omicron case.
“With Omicron now present in nearly 60 countries globally, travel bans that mainly target African countries are hard to justify,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa. “Through the diligent surveillance efforts of African scientists, the new variant of concern was first detected on this continent, but it’s unclear if transmission was taking place silently in other regions. We call for science-based public health measures to counter the spread of COVID-19. The travel restrictions come at the height of the end-of-year tourist season, ravaging Africa’s economies, with a knock-on impact that is potentially devastating to the health of Africans.”
To ramp up the response to the Omicron variant and the rise in cases, WHO is supporting countries to improve genomic surveillance to track the virus and detect other potential variants of concern. In South Africa, a regional genomic sequencing laboratory is supporting 14 southern Africa countries and has significantly scaled up sequencing. In the first half of 2021, southern African countries sequenced only 5500 samples. They are now sequencing as many every month.
An 83% surge in new COVID-19 cases during the past week in Africa, driven by the Delta and the Omicron variants, is causing fewer deaths than previous surges—but more waves could be building as updated forecasts warn that the continent may not reach 70% vaccine coverage until August 2024, a new World Health Organization (WHO) pandemic assessment finds.
Africa recorded more than 196 000 new cases for the week ending on 12 December, up from around 107 000 in the previous week, bringing the total cumulative number of recorded cases during the pandemic to 8.9 million. The number of new COVID-19 cases is currently doubling every five days, the shortest reported this year. While the speed of the spread is fast, deaths remain low and even dropped by 19% last week compared with the previous week.
There were a little over 3000 deaths reported during the first three weeks of the current pandemic wave, which is Africa’s fourth. About half as many cases were reported in the same time frame during the third wave which was fuelled by the Delta variant.
This upsurge in new cases coupled with low hospitalizations is particularly marked in South Africa which has experienced a 66% rise in new cases during the past seven days compared with the previous seven days. While hospitalizations have increased by 67% in the past seven days, the bed occupancy rate for Intensive Care Units remains low at 7.5%, with 14% of the hospitalized patients receiving supplemental oxygen. Though the deaths also remain low, this data should be interpreted with caution as the pattern may change in the coming weeks.
“We are cautiously optimistic that deaths and severe illness will remain low in the current wave, but slow vaccine rollout in Africa means both will be much higher than they should be,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “We’ve known for quite some time now that new variants like Beta, Delta or Omicron could regularly emerge to spark new outbreaks globally, but vaccine-deprived regions like Africa will be especially vulnerable.”
Speaking on the occasion, the Minister of Health, Dr. Lia Tadesse, said the country and its people are facing unprecedented challenges, both internal and external. Although they may temporarily test and challenge us in the areas of social, political, economic, and foreign affairs; This is not the first time we Ethiopians have faced such complex and serious problems; She recalled the strength of our unity, saying that "we are united as one, one million of us as one and each of us as we are one million and we have overcome the problems and challenges that we have faced in the past”.
According to Dr. Lia, the only real solution to the ongoing campaign and the threat of disintegration is to strengthen our internal unity and resilience, our existing values of solidarity and uniting our forces.
According to the Minister, the campaign to save the country, to support and rehabilitate the war-torn citizens, and to stand on the side of defense forces is not something that will be left to the few. "Every patriotic Ethiopian should do it without hesitation," she said.
We must support and strengthen our country's defense forces, which are fighting hard for the lives of our country. Dr. Lia also stressed the need for all patriotic Ethiopians to show their solidarity and support for our defense forces to the best of their ability.
Moms who had COVID-19 when they gave birth may help stimulate their infant's burgeoning immunity against the virus by breastfeeding, a small study hints.
It's well known that breast milk contains certain maternal antibodies that can help protect infants from infections as their own immune systems develop.
Studies indicate that's true of SARS-CoV-2, as well: Breast milk from moms who had COVID-19, or have been vaccinated against it, contains antibodies against the virus.
Antibodies passed from mom to baby — both in the womb and via breastfeeding — offer what's called "passive" immune protection, where a mother's antibodies stand guard while the baby's immune system develops.
