Efforts to Eradicate Drancunculiasis from Ethiopia is Well Underway
Though a number of rumors were reported and verified in level I and II of Gambella and SNNP regions, no new case is registered since last December 2015 which was detected in Gog districts of Gambella region. The Ethiopian Drancunculiasis Eradication Programme (EDEP) is being carried out properly and various programme supports are being provided.
According to the EDEP coordinators trainings were provided in both level I and II districts of Gambella and SNNP regions. Base line assessment and mapping of the villages in two districts (Surma and Nyangatom) of SNNPR and two districts (Dima and Mengesh) of Gambella region was conducted.
There is an organized national coordination team comprising six staffs and also office construction is completed for the team by the support from The Carter Center Ethiopia. The office will be inaugurated on May 04/2016. Full time hotline operator is assigned and is handling rumors from different parts of the country. And updates on Guinea worm are incorporated to the weekly Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM) bulletin to be shared with all relevant bodies.
The technical working group meets monthly and the previous meeting was held on March 31, 2016 in Gambella town and the regional quarterly review meeting was held from March 28 to 31, 2016 in Metu. During these meetings the achievements, gaps and challenges for the last three months were reviewed and recommendations and the way forwards were developed by the participants from the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), Gambella Regional Health Bureau (GRHB), Zonal and district levels.
In order to update and inform the public the first press conference was conducted at the Federal Ministry of Health on April 18, 2016. Participants of the press conference were Director General of EPHI Dr. Amha Kebede, GWEP national coordinator Amanu Shifara, TCC country representative Dr. Zerihun Tadesse, WHO representative Dr. Zeyede Kebede and World Laurite; Good will Amabassador of GWEP Dr. Tibebe Yemaneh.
In addition a joint supportive supervision was conducted by a team drawn from EPHI, GRHB, The Carter Center and WHO between April 10 to 16,2016 in Abobo, Gog, Itang refugee camps, Lare and Aboul districts in Gambella region.
Routine activities towards interrupting the disease and awareness raisings are ongoing on both endemic and non endemic districts.