A joint WHO mission composed of Ethiopia Country Office, the Africa Regional Office and the Horn of Africa Office for Polio Response Coordination visited health facilities and refugee communities in Gambella Regional State on 5 and 6 August 2015. The mission aimed to strengthen support to the refugee emergency response in the Region.

“No country in Africa is burdened by refugees like Ethiopia at the moment,” said Dr Pierre-M’pele-Kilebou, WHO Representative to Ethiopia “WHO Ethiopia is working closely with partners to support the exceptional situation in Gambella, and this mission is a milestone in strengthening WHO’s support to the Region,” he added during the visit.

There are over 280,000 South Sudanese refugees in Ethiopia. Hundreds are still arriving at the five entry points every day. The refugees are hosted in five refugee camps that are governed by the Ethiopian government’s Administration for Refugees and Returnees Affairs (ARRA). WHO and other partners provide support to address basic needs of the refugees. 

The joint mission visited health facilities and communities in Kule and Jewi refugee camps that host refugee populations of over 47,000 each. ARRA administers all health facilities in refugee camps except for the facility in Kule Camp which is managed by Mèdicine Sans Frontièrs (MSF) Holland. The health center in Jewi Camp had been managed by MSF France until it was transferred to ARRA at the end of August 2015. WHO supports ARRA to effectively manage the health center in Jewi as well as tackle health challenges in the refugee camps.

The mission appreciated the efforts made by WHO and partners to provide health services to the refugees but also observed limitations, noting that the visit helped to identify weaknesses and provide opportunity to address them. WHO plans to strength support to the Region with a pertinent focus on health data management, immunization, and coordination of health interventions as they are said to require enhancement. 

Currently WHO backs the region through the Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM), strengthening surveillance of communicable diseases, and emergency preparedness and response. Expanded Program of Immunization (EPI) against vaccine preventable diseases is also supported to prevent disease, disability and death in the host and refugee communities. During the summer months, 357 health workers were trained on disease surveillance and outbreak management, focusing on Cholera, Yellow Fever and Ebola. Orientation was given to 183 health extension workers on public health emergency. In addition, Rapid Response Teams (RRT) were established in all outbreak-prone districts and 61 RRT members were trained for three days to carry out outbreak investigation and responses.

For more information, please contact:

Technical Contact: Dr Israel Tareke Gebresillasie; email:  gebresillassiei [at] who.int" target="_blank">gebresillassiei [at] who.int

Communication Contact: Kibnesh Chala; email:  kibnesh [at] gmail.com" target="_blank">kibnesh [at] gmail.com