The Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) has declared its commitment to providing necessary assistance for the implementation of the One Health (OH) approach.
In 2017, Ethiopia formed an Ad-hoc National One Health Steering Committee (NOHSC) to ensure a coordinated response to global pandemics such as COVID-19, SARS, MERS, HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and Zika.
Since its establishment, the committee has been coordinating OH programs and actions nationwide. Its members include specialists from the fields of agriculture, health, environment, wildlife management, as well as other stakeholders such as NGOs and bilateral organizations.
However, the committee has faced challenges, including the lack of its own office, funding for collaborative efforts, and a primary focus on zoonotic diseases rather than ecological health.
To address these challenges, the Ethiopian government, in collaboration with relevant administrative bodies and partners, has taken a significant step towards establishing a One Health Secretariat as the custodian of EPHI. This was done through the issuance of the ‘Ethiopian Public Health Institute Establishment Regulation No. 529/2023’ in November last year.
Dr. Getachew Tollera (MD, MPH), the deputy director general of EPHI, emphasizes the importance of the OH strategy in safeguarding the population from potential pandemics and strengthening Ethiopia’s health emergency systems. He also highlights the need for comprehensive and coordinated solutions to address the country’s health issues.
To establish a more resilient healthcare system in Ethiopia, the Deputy Director General emphasizes the necessity of involving all essential stakeholders in the implementation of the OH approach. EPHI is committed to providing necessary assistance to all stakeholders engaged in OH approach implementation in Ethiopia.
The Science Communication and Media Café event on July 11 and 12 brought together stakeholders in public health and media to discuss the importance of strengthening the OH strategy in addressing the nation’s public health concerns. Mirgissa Kaba, a professor at the School of Public Health of Addis Ababa University and coordinator of the Capacitating One Health in Eastern and Southern Africa (COHESA) project, states that the project has been promoting OH concepts in Ethiopia through various awareness creation efforts for multi-sectoral and multi-disciplinary teams.
“We have also been promoting interdisciplinary collaborative activities among stakeholders in the health, agriculture, and environment protection sectors, as well as educational and research institutes. These efforts need to be strengthened to realize a strong OH approach in Ethiopia and protect the people from future emerging and re-emerging pandemics such as COVID-19, SARS, MERS, HIV/AIDS, and Ebola,” says the COHESA project coordinator.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), One Health is a collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary approach that works at various levels to achieve optimal health outcomes by recognizing the interconnection between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment/ecology.
COHESA is a project implemented across eleven countries in Eastern and Southern Africa. The project consortium consists of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), and the International Service for the Acquisition of Agri-biotech Applications (ISAAA) Africenter. In each country, the project works with an academic partner and a wider stakeholder team to adapt and adopt OH approaches and solutions.
