The World Health Organization lauds the initiative of the Government of the United States of America to strengthen their partnership with the Government of Ethiopia towards enhanced implementation of the International Health Regulation (IHR) side by side with achieving the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA).

A meeting between the Government of Ethiopia and the US Government regarding the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) was held on 17 June 2015. 

Opening the meeting, the US Ambassador to Ethiopia Ms Patricia M. Haslach, confirmed  the United States of America’s commitment to supporting Ethiopia to meet the Global Health Security Agenda and acknowledged that the health emergencies are “not new” and that being well prepared is key to positive outcomes.  The Ambassador commended the government of Ethiopia for its efforts to strengthen the country’s Ebola preparedness and its contribution to the Ebola virus outbreak response in West Africa.

Dr Addis Tamire, Director General of the Office of the Minister of Health, underscored the Government of Ethiopia’s commitment at all levels, including as high as the Prime Minister, to emergency preparedness and implementation of the IHR.  He confirmed that the same strong committee that led the Ebola outbreak preparedness and response efforts will take up oversight of the implementation of IHR in Ethiopia.  Dr Addis further expressed the Ministry’s expectations that the Global Health Security Agenda will bring together stakeholders from different sectors beyond the health sector.

Dr Pierre M’pele, WHO Representative to Ethiopia, acknowledged the excellent collaboration between the governments of the USA and Ethiopia. He further underscored that health security and the implementation of the IHR has been taken up as a top priority for the WHO Regional Office for Africa since Dr Matshidiso Moeti took office as Regional Director, and since the lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

Mr Peter H. Vrooman, US  Deputy Chief of Mission; Dr Jeff Hanson, CDC Ethiopia Country Director; Dr Ahma Kebede, Director General of the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) and Dr Daddi Jima EPHI Deputy Director and Ethiopia IHR Focal Point also attended the meeting.

The IHR was ratified in 2005 and came into force in 2007 with a five-year implementation plan through 2012. Many countries in the African Region requested and received a two-year extension to be able to fulfill the minimum core capacities. Ethiopia, among these countries, seeks to accelerate IHR implementation, and the US-Ethiopia collaboration for GHSA will help propel Ethiopia towards this goal.  Ethiopia is one of fifteen African countries to receive technical and financial support from the US GHSA program.

The GHSA is an effort by nations, international organizations, and civil society to accelerate progress toward a world safe and secure from infectious disease threats; to promote global health security as an international priority; and to spur progress toward full implementation of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) International Health Regulations 2005 (IHR), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS) pathway, and other relevant global health security frameworks. The "Action Packages" concept was developed to facilitate regional and global collaboration toward specific GHSA objectives and targets, and to encourage progress toward these goals.

The purpose of the 17 June meeting was to provide an overview of the Global Health Security Agenda, summarize current activities relevant to the GHSA in Ethiopia, review the Ethiopia five-year roadmap for GHSA, discuss current activities and identify milestones over the next five years for some of the 11 different “Action Packages”. Particular focus was given to the following: 1) Laboratory/ Biosafety and Biosecurity,  2) Surveillance/ Information Systems, 3) Workforce Development/ Emergency Operations Centers,  4) Immunization, 5) Zoonotic Diseases, and 6) Antimicrobial Resistance. 

President Barack Obama said in 2011 that “…We should come together to prevent, detect and fight every kind of biological danger…”, and the US-Ethiopia partnership for GHSA is one concrete step in this front.