UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Regional Office in Addis Ababa celebrate the annual International Girls in ICT day under the theme “Digital Skills for Life”.
The event which is held every year on the fourth Thursday of April, this year’s took place on April 27, 2023.
The event which aims to inspire and encourage girls to pursue careers in science, engineering, technology, mathematics (STEAM), and other fields and engage effectively in the digital sector brought together different stakeholders including mentors, young women and girls to exchange their experiences and share knowledge around digital skills for life and address different topics related to digital skills such as mentorship, education, youth engagement to inspire girls to engage and participate in the ICT field, pursue careers related to digital technologies, develop and strengthen their digital skills, and actively engage in the local digital ecosystem.
“The information and communications technology sector plays a pivotal role in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment as stipulated in the United Nations sustained development goal. At ECA we are committed to the goal of equal access for young women and girls to opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Here, I’d like to applaud the government of Ethiopia for its efforts in centre stage in education in stems as part of the structural transformation agenda by sending very clear policy signals, by providing incentives for students to pursue education in science and technology, engineering and mathematics that’s critical for Africans to go up the value chain and which is critical for Africa to claim agenda 2030 and agenda 2063,” said Antonio Pedro, Executive Secretary of ECA.

As digital technologies are an essential pathway to gender equality and empowerment, it has become increasingly important to engage girls and young women more closely in the digital transformation process. According to ITU, globally, the percentage of females and males using the internet is 63 percent and 69 percent respectively, and in Africa, the percentage of females and males using the internet is 34 percent and 45 percent respectively.
Around 90 per cent of adolescent girls and young women do not use the internet in low-income countries, while their male peers are twice as likely to be online, according to a new UNICEF analysis issued on International Day of Girls in ICT.
“The theme for the Girls in ICT Day celebrations this year “Digital Skills for Life”, digital skills remain a key component for girls and young women to engage in the digital ecosystem. The ITU is committed to building and strengthening multi-stakeholder partnerships to equip young girls, women and youth with digital skills to bridge the digital gender divide,” said Anne-Rachel Inné , ITU Regional Director for Africa whilst speaking on the event, adding, “I encourage all the girls and young women to develop and strengthen their digital skills, within their schools and beyond, through the local communities and actively engage in the digital ecosystems as we strive to bridge the digital gender divide.”
Alternative educational and training options to acquire digital skills such as boot camps and incubators have been emerging globally, and in 2020, the ECA in collaboration with ITU and UN Women launched the ‘Connected African Girls’ coding camp initiative in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to bridge the gap and advance ICT skills across the continent.

The World Health Organization (WHO) holds a two-day regional summit in Addis Ababa to discuss the issue of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) on April 25 and 26, 2023.
Representatives from 12 African countries participated in the summit on the responsible and appropriate use of antimicrobials cognizant of AMR’s significant threat to global public health, with Sub-Saharan African countries bearing the heaviest burden of resistant bacterial infections.
This weight is said to puts at risk, decades of advances to control infectious diseases such as malaria, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted infections. The COVID-19 pandemic was further stated to have fueled the threat of AMR due to extensive misuse and overuse of antimicrobials.

“AMR is a significant threat to global public health. The global and regional burden is alarming. Sub-Saharan African countries bear the heaviest burden of resistant bacterial infections, with the highest AMR-associated death rates, at 99 deaths per 100,000 populations,” said Dr. Nonhlanhla Dlamini, Acting Representative of WHO-Ethiopia Country Office adding cost of AMR was high, with the highest impact on Low and Middle-Income Countries.
Furthermore, as noted in the summit, the consequences of AMR during surgery, cancer, and the management of immune-suppressed patients were cited as frightful. In 2019, 4.95 million deaths were associated with AMR, and 1.27 million deaths were directly attributable to it.
Dr. Walter Fuller from the WHO African Region on his part said that countries must act now to make informed and country-specific policy decisions.
As highlighted, Ethiopia is currently committed to preventing AMR and is working in close collaboration with WHO and other partners to ensure responsible and appropriate use of antimicrobials. Ethiopia is also among the first countries to have a national strategic document on AMR and the implementation of Antimicrobial Stewardship (AMS). Moreover, financial support from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has helped scale up the implementation of antimicrobial stewardship from a few health facilities to around 100 across Ethiopia.
Healthcare leaders and AMR focal points from Burkina Faso, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe actively took part in the two- day summit.

“Ethiopia’s government is fully committed to preventing AMR. Through its National Action Plan on the Prevention and Control of AMR, the government of Ethiopia is executing coordinated activities at all levels, and the Ethiopian Ministries of Health, Agriculture, and Environment are working in close collaboration with WHO and other partners to ensure responsible and appropriate use of antimicrobials,” remarked Ethiopian State Minister of Health Dr. Dereje Duguma at the summit opening.,
“The government of Ethiopia is also committed to work in close collaboration with all African countries in fighting the challenges of AMR,” the State Minister added whilst calling upon all partners to quickly act on reversing the impact of AMR.
Ethiopia conducted the first AMR baseline survey in 2009 and launched the first National Strategic Framework for the prevention and containment of AMR in 2011. Ethiopia is also among the first countries to have a national strategic document on AMR and AMS.

Cheshire Ethiopia (CE) announces its 60th anniversary celebratory events that comes in connection with the colorful marking of its six solid decades of life changing and impactful rehabilitation services it has been rendering uninterrupted for persons with disabilities and their families.
“Due to the successful rehabilitation, I undergone at CE, my mobility and functionality is immensely enhanced. 1 have become a strong person with big dreams,” says Solomon Mulugeta, former beneficiary who is running his own charity now.
Founded in 1962, Cheshire Ethiopia is a leading disability and development organization striving for the realization of disability inclusive society through rights-based affordable and standard rehabilitation services as well as empowerment of persons with disabilities and communities with health, educational, economic, social, and over all empowerment interventions. CE offers free comprehensive disability rehabilitation services rendered to the poorest segments of the community across seven regional states and two city administrations.

Cheshire Ethiopia was founded by the initiative of the grand children of the late Emperor Haile Selassie 60 years ago. The service that was started with small number of children with developmental impairments, later on incorporated the provision of rehabilitation services and enhancement of mobility of children affected by post-polio paralysis. The successful rehabilitation interventions have improved the mobility and functioning of over hundreds of thousands of children and youth with mobility impairments through the years. These changed the despair of children with disabilities and their equally ashamed, stigmatized and discriminated families to happiness. The hopelessness on their children also changed to hope for a new life.
These meaningful therapeutic services popularized the organization. As a result, the name Cheshire has now almost become synonymous with disability and disability with Cheshire.
CE’s strong presence in Ethiopia at the time when the global initiative to eradicate polio got underway in 1988 meant that most new polio cases have been diagnosed, properly treated and patients supported by community-based rehabilitation services.
As a parallel initiative, CE has opened branches in Hawassa, Harar, DireDawa, and later on in Addis Ababa – major urban centers in the south, east, and central parts of the country. Assistive technology production workshops and physiotherapy facilities are supplemented by training and, most recently, seed funding for income-generation aiming to draw families of persons with disabilities into commercial enterprises as a step toward ‘inclusiveness’.
In the past sixty years, Cheshire Ethiopia has undergone through series of policy and developmental changes including changing its names due to changes in strategy, dynamism of the sector, and development of international disability movement as well as national policies.

The World Food Program (WFP) receives much needed logistical boost as the DMP rail terminal launches a WFP bagged cereal delivery operations which kick stated Monday, April 17, 2023.
WFP now joins in the footsteps of the many users of the DMP rail terminal by shipping, for its first operation, and will now easily get nearly 3000 M/T of wheat destined for Ethiopia and plans to devote nearly 30 percent of its cargoes to rail transit.
WFP made the decision to combine road transport with rail transport while benefiting from DMP’s innovative operational solutions which are in high demand.
In east Africa, the rail transport presents itself as an interesting alternative to the various challenges of road transport. Its many advantages, namely: fast and secure mode of transport, low costs, large quantity transport and an ecological means of transport has made it a go to logistical means in the Horn.
The DMP, for its part, has anticipated the situation very well by equipping itself with modern and high-performance equipment for handling. Furthermore, a major investment program was set up in 2022 to meet the growing demand of its users and to be able to accommodate the latest generation ships.
There are currently five handling lines at the DMP rail terminal, three of which are for bagged goods or any other conventional goods, one loading line for vehicles and another for containers.
Today, the rail mode remains more relevant, with the densification of the goods, by combining it with maritime, road and air transport; it makes it possible to streamline the delivery of cargo to the final destination, which makes it an asset essential part of the multimodal system.
Since its launch in 2018, the Djibouti-Ethiopian railway line has relieved congestion on the Djibouti-Ethiopia road corridor and above all has enabled DMP to improve its performance and connectivity with its main hinterland.
DMP, thanks to its new lever has not only made it possible to increase the efficiency of multimodal transport but also in the participation of fulfilling the objectives of sustainable development of the region. For instance, the cargo leaving DMP is transported by an electric train from the Nagad Main Station for the significant reduction in CO2.
It is an undeniable fact that DMP is increasingly strengthening its position as an essential multimodal platform at regional and international level.
In addition, as part of the diversification of the markets served and the related income, DMP is planning on, in the very short term, the export of dry bulk to regional markets such as Sudan, Yemen and Kenya.