National Tuberculosis (TB) Research Conference officially opened in Addis Ababa on March 21, 2024, with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in attendance.  Organized by the Ministry of Health and partners, the event ran until March 24th, culminating with the celebration of World TB Day.

Unique to this year were outdoor activities to educate the public that included a police march, a public sport activity between Addis Ababa Municipality and EPHI staff, social and mainstream media public awareness campaigns, and graduation of TB patients that completed an income generating capacity building activity.

USAID made three funding announcements at the conference. Mission Director (MD) Scott Hocklander shared the news that Ethiopia is one of a limited number of countries that will benefit from the new “USAID Global Accelerator Plus Initiative,” to help end TB by 2030. As part of this initiative, Ethiopia will receive an additional $6 million in 2024 to fight TB.  The Government of Ethiopia has committed to allocating an additional $6 million to match USAID’s contribution. Second, MD Hocklander informed the audience that the USAID TB Local Organizations Network (TB LON) Activity launched on Sunday, March 24, 2024 to support the TB program in Afar, Benshangul Gumz, Gambella, and Somali. In addition, USAID manages a $1 million seed fund that will expand access to testing for TB.

USAID has invested nearly $350 million over the last 25 years to support Ethiopia’s TB program. The mission procured nearly 350 cutting-edge rapid TB diagnostic GeneXpert machines; constructed 16 multidrug resistant TB treatment centers and 15 reference laboratories, procured thousands of microscopes, trained tens of thousands of health workers, and reached millions of Ethiopians with different TB and multidrug resistant TB services.

On March 24, 2024, USAID supported the celebration of World TB Day. Various activities took place to mark the event, including speeches from government and development partners, a TB Awareness Creation Walk, and testimonials from TB survivors. USAID Deputy Health Office Director Karen Koprince delivered remarks and reaffirmed the U.S Government’s commitment to continue supporting the Ethiopian people and government to end TB by 2030.

2024 marks an important milestone in the relationship between the people of the United States and the people of Ethiopia.  It was 120 years ago that the two countries established formal diplomatic ties and 60 years later that USAID was established in Ethiopia.  USAID has continued to support Ethiopia’s efforts to end TB.

To learn more about the #US-Ethiopia120Years of partnership, visit: U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia and follow U.S. Embassy Addis Ababa | Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia.

Ethiopia hosted cancer experts from the IAEA, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) for an imPACT Review in the country last November. A key objective of the mission was to contribute to the renewal of the National Cancer Control Plan — including for childhood cancer — and support the Ministry of Health in expanding regional access to radiation medicine services.

The cancer burden in Ethiopia is significant: of its 120 million population, it is estimated that nearly 80 000 people were diagnosed with cancer in 2022, and 55 000 people died. These numbers are expected to more than double in the next two decades (Globocan 2022). All cancer patients require access to diagnostic imaging to inform their course of treatment, and approximately 50 per cent need access to radiation therapy — currently only possible at three public hospitals in the country. Waiting times are long (sometimes more than a year), and most patients only seek medical help when their cancer is already advanced, reducing their chances of survival. This situation is further compounded by a lack of functioning radiotherapy facilities in neighbouring countries.

The government of Ethiopia is working hard to address this situation, with five additional radiotherapy centres already under construction around the country (Addis Ababa, Gondar, Hawassa, Harar and Mekele). One of these — a comprehensive oncology centre to be integrated into the St Paul Millennium Medical College’s Hospital in Addis Ababa — is being built through a public-private partnership, the first of its kind in cancer care in Ethiopia.

There are also plans underway to open nine satellite clinics focused specifically on children with cancer — estimated to represent approximately 5-7 per cent of all cancer cases in the country (Globocan 2022). These centres will be staffed by general paediatricians and nurses who have received additional, targeted training in paediatric oncology. Their opening is expected to significantly boost the country’s capacity to recognize early signs of cancer in children and refer them for further care, thereby helping reduce the current high rates of treatment abandonment (20-50 per cent), and the fact that 75 per cent of the children who seek medical assistance at one of the existing paediatric cancer care units in the country are already at an advanced stage of the disease (Source: The Aslan Project).

Looking forward with hope

“The needs of the African continent to increase access to cancer care, diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy remain high,” said Shaukat Abdulrazak, Director of the Division for Africa at the IAEA’s Technical Cooperation Department. “For this reason, we were impressed by the many signs of progress observed in Ethiopia during the course of the imPACT Review mission,” he added.

Ethiopia is one of the 13 African countries that will receive additional support from the IAEA under the second wave of the Rays of Hope initiative, for increased access to radiotherapy services — including training, upgrading and procuring additional equipment.

Ethiopia has also been flagged by the WHO as a CureAll Priority focus country – a framework for action used by the WHO to inform, prioritize interventions and monitor results in the battle against childhood cancer. “The recent Ethiopia imPACT Review provided the opportunity to align with the WHO Global Initiative for Childhood Cancer objective of prioritizing childhood cancer in the national cancer agenda,” said the WHO’s Roberta Ortiz. The WHO will continue to work closely with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, through their Global Alliance, and The Aslan Project to improve survival for children with cancer.

During the mission, the imPACT Review team visited a number of other organizations active on the ground in Ethiopia in order to fully assess national cancer care capacity and needs.

Two such organizations – the Tesfa Addis Parents Childhood Cancer Organization (TAPCCO) and  Mathiwos Wondu YeEthiopian Cancer Society (MWECS) – provide logistical support to the families of children with cancer. For example: this includes accommodation during hospital treatments, food, medicine, and help covering transportation costs. They also help patients with the direct costs of their cancer treatment by covering out-of-pocket expenditures for pathology analyses and chemotherapy medicines when they are not available in public hospitals.

During the review, the team noted the efforts in place for retinoblastoma early detection and awareness through a partnership of the Ethiopian Government with the Alliance Mondiale Contre le Cancer. Though this early childhood cancer of the eye is rare, survival rates are high when it is caught early.

Together, these steps demonstrate a firm commitment on behalf of the Ethiopian government to address the burden of cancer in the country, expanding access to cancer care for all.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Office of the President has today announced the re-appointment of Ms Angela Servina as the Chief Executive Officer of the Planning Authority, and of Ms Maria Madeleine as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

Ms Madeleine holds a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, from the Haerbin Engineering University in China. She began her professional career at the Ministry of Lands&Housing in September 2008 as a survey technician. In September 2010 she moved to the Seychelles Planning Authority as Development Control officer.

In August 2019, she became an engineer with the Authority and in September 2022 she was promoted as acting Director General. A position she has held until her appointment as the Deputy Chief Executive Officer.

Ms Madeleine has been in the public service for 16 years and of which 14 years of continued service with the Planning Authority.

Ms Servina’s re-appointment as Chief Executive Officer took effect from 1st February, 2024 and Ms Madeleine’s appointment as Deputy Chief Executive Officer took effect from 1st September, 2023.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of State House Seychelles.

Today, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with Prime Minister Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, Minister of Finance Dr. Mohamed Maait and Vice Minister of Finance for Fiscal Policies Ahmed Kouchouk.

The Spokesman for the Presidency, Counselor Dr. Ahmed Fahmy, said the meeting reviewed the draft budget for the fiscal year 2024/2025. Minister of Finance Dr. Maait presented the key final indicators of the draft budget, which is based on achieving a growth rate of 4% of the Gross Domestic Product. It will also witness the achievement of an initial surplus of 3.5% and the reduction of the total deficit in the medium-term to 6% of the GDP, in addition to the growth of revenues in the state’s general budget by almost 36% to reach 2.6 trillion Egyptian pounds and the growth of public expenditures of the state’s general budget by 29% to amount to 3.9 trillion Egyptian pounds. This is also in addition to allocating 575 billion Egyptian pounds for wages and 636 billion Egyptian pounds for subsidies, grants and social benefits, including 144 billion pounds for basic food supplies and 154 billion pounds to subsidize petroleum products, as a result of the rise in oil prices globally and the impact of the change in the exchange rate, which is considered a major challenge to the state’s public finance. This is also in addition to the allocation of more than 40 billion pounds for “Takaful and Karama,” as well as increasing allocations for health and education by 30%, being a “presidential priority” to complete the strategy of building the Egyptian person during the upcoming budgets, starting with the budget for the fiscal year 2024/2025.

Dr. Maait noted that for the first time this year, the concept of the general government budget will be introduced in a way that helps explain the true capabilities of the state’s public finance according to an objective reading that reflects the entire revenues and expenditures of the state and its public bodies. He further explained that the budget of the “general government” will be presented in the fiscal year 2024/2025. It includes the state’s general budget and the budgets of 40 economic bodies, as a first phase, bringing the total revenues of the general government budget to 4 trillion pounds, while the total expenditures amount to 4.9 trillion pounds.

President El-Sisi gave directives, in this context, to continue maintaining financial discipline and ensuring the financial sustainability of the state’s general budget, in addition to continuing to take all the necessary measures to reduce the public budget debt and its service burdens.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Presidency of the Arab Republic of Egypt.