Cross border meeting held at Hawassa
The Ethiopian Public Health Institute has conducted East African Countries cross border meeting, on Guinea Worm Disease Eradication program in collaboration with WHO and The Carter Center from June 16 to 17, 2016 at Hawassa Town, Southern Nation, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State.
The objective of the meeting was to strengthen communication among the cross border Countries to minimize risk of missing imported and exported cases of the Guinea worm disease by enhancing the awareness level of the communities at the border areas of the respective Countries.
Honourable Mr.Habtamu Beyene Deputy Head of the Southern Nation, Nationalities and Peoples Regional State Health Bureau in his opening remarks said that, this cross border meeting is very important to share experiences of implementation in Guinea worm disease eradication program and to accelerate our communication at the cross border areas in our respective Countries.
Dr. Zeyede Kebede representative of WHO- Ethiopia in his Keynote speech said that, this cross border meeting will help us to strengthen our efforts in cross border areas of our respective Countries, to improve the performance of Guinea worm disease eradication programs.
According to Mr. Amanu Shifaraw coordinator of the National Guinea Worm Disease Eradication Program of Ethiopia, in this cross border meeting the achievements of the 2015 plan of action will be presented, weaknesses and gaps will be discussed, common plan of action for 2016 will be developed and future directions will be forwarded, by participants of the respective Countries.
The cross border meeting attracted 40 participants from Four Eastern African Countries (Ethiopia, Southern Sudan, Kenya and Uganda), WHO, The Carter Center, and National Certification Committee of Ethiopia.
