National Action Plan for Health Security being Developed

The FDRE’s Ministry of Health (FMoH), the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI) jointly with the line Ministries (Ministry of Livestock and Fishery, Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority and Ethiopian Wildlife Conservation Authority) and other relevant sectors have started the development of National Action Plan for Health Security (NAPHS) on November 24 in Bishoftu Town, Adulala Resort which will continue until November 30, 2017.
Dr. Feyisa Regassa, the Acting Deputy Director General of EPHI, International Health Regulation (IHR) focal person and National One Health Steering Committee Chairperson is leading the planning exercise.
H.E Dr. Kebede Worku, FMoH’s State Minister in his opening speech indicated that Ethiopia has conducted the Joint External Evaluation (JEE) in 2016 and currently has finalized the preparatory phase of the planning.
“Ethiopia is expected to come up with the NAPHS in 2017 unfortunately that has not happened yet because the health sector was busy in responding to the El Nino induced drought and communicable disease outbreaks. The current planning exercise is initiated with the commitment of Ethiopian Government, WHO Leadership and active partnership with One Health spirit,” said the State Minister.
The workshop has entertained presentations on Overview of JEE findings, overview of NAPHS, Global and Regional Frameworks and Strategies, Global Health Security Roadmap of the Country, Planning Matrix, Summary of Works Pertaining to IHR by the line Ministries including the Animal Health Sector Self Assessment Using the Joint External Evaluations Tool 2017 and Progress Made after the JEE Evaluation.
The sixty-eight session of the World Health Assembly (WHA) adopted a resolution to implement a variety of approaches in the assessment and development of International Health Regulation (IHR) core capacities. In addition member states have also adapted the Regional Strategy for Health Security and Emergencies during the 66th Regional Committee for Africa. One of the recommendations of this strategy was to conduct the JEE using multispectral and all hazards approach and to develop and implement NAPHS which address gaps identified during the JEE.
The participants of the workshop are stakeholders of International Health Regulations (IHR) from government sectors, UN agencies (WHO, UNICEF), CDC (US, Africa, China), National and International Universities and UK Public Health.