ADDIS ABABA (U.S. Embassy) – The United States Agency for International Development/Ethiopia (USAID Ethiopia) Acting Mission Director Timothy Stein was joined by Ethiopia’s Minister of Health Dr. Lia Tadesse and Commissioner for Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission Dr. Shiferaw Teklemariam to launch the USAID Health Resilience Activity. This five-year, 12 million USD (650 million ETB) project will empower the Ministry of Health to anticipate, prepare for, detect, respond to, and mitigate the impact of public health emergencies in Ethiopia. The collaboration between USAID and the Ministry of Health will lead to improved preparedness to effectively respond to public health emergencies at the sub regional level.
The launch, held at the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) National Training Center, was attended by representatives from regional health bureaus, regional public health institutes, UN agencies and other development partners, who highlighted the need for community-level health system strengthening. During his remarks, Acting Mission Director Stein noted, “The coordination of all development partners in the Public Health Emergency Management space is paramount to achieving these goals of the project.”
The project will provide leadership development and training on data use for early warning, preparedness, and response planning. Concurrent trainings will focus on mobilizing local resources for times of emergency.
Per USAID Ethiopia, this project, titled “Health Resilience Activity” is a collaboration of USAID Ethiopia, the Federal Ministry of Health, the Ethiopian Red Cross Society (ERCS), and the Medford-based NGO Management Sciences for Health (MSH) and is aimed at strengthening local capacity to anticipate, prepare for, detect, respond to, and mitigate the impact of public health emergencies in Ethiopia
In 2022 alone, USAID provided more than $1.8 billion dollars in development and humanitarian aid to Ethiopia.
Source: U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa