The EU-African Union Health Partnership, a milestone in strengthening Africa’s health security, resilience, and sovereignty, is reportedly focused on three new initiatives.

Ethiopia is fully committed to working closely with the Africa CDC, the EU, and all partners to ensure strong systems, strong institutions, and better health outcomes for communities, said Minister of Health Dr. Mekdes Daba.

The National Spine Center, built at the Millennium Medical College campus of St. Paul's Hospital, was inaugurated in the presence of the Minister of Health and other senior officials, the Ambassador of Israel to Ethiopia, the founder and veteran surgeons of JDC, St. Paul's leaders, and many stakeholders.

During the discussion, Minister of Health Dr. Mekdes Daba noted the long-standing partnership with CDC in health system strengthening, HIV/AIDS and malaria programs, and laboratory capacity building. She also thanked the CDC for its support.

She further called for this collaboration to be further strengthened, especially in the areas of strengthening emergency preparedness and response, as well as immunization services and information system modernization.

During the meeting, both sides reviewed the long-standing partnership between the Ministry of Health and the organization. Special attention was paid to the progress made in the areas of disease prevention, surveillance and eradication programs, including the prevention of tropical diseases, Guinea worm disease and other priority health issues.

The Ministry of Health held a forum with the German Embassy, ​​the Robert Koch Institute, and the World Health Organization (WHO) on the initiative and partnership of emergency medical teams.

At the forum, German Ambassador Birgit Ori announced that Ethiopia will host the first international meeting of emergency medical teams, which demonstrates the country’s strong emergency response capacity and its ability to effectively prevent recent outbreaks, including the Marburg virus.

The forum on child health and nutrition in Africa was attended by His Majesty King Letsie III of Lesotho, the African Union Champion for Nutrition, along with senior government officials and representatives from international institutions.

Speaking at the event, Ato Adem Farah, Head of the Coordination Centre for Democracy Building in the rank of Deputy Prime Minister, said that Ethiopia has achieved significant results in successfully implementing the Lemat Thurufat and Green Legacy Decade initiatives.

Attending the launch of the initiative, Minister of Health Dr. Mekdes Daba said that Ethiopia is playing a leading role in achieving the African Union's goal of meeting 60 percent of the continent's vaccine needs by 2040. 

She noted that the government has improved the drug procurement system to prioritize domestically produced products, increasing domestic demand coverage from 8 percent to 42 percent, and is working hard to increase it to 60 percent in the next five years.

The AU Summit, themed “Advancing Africa’s Health Security and Sovereignty Agenda: Ensuring Sustainability through Commitment and Leadership,” is being held at the Africa CDC, which focuses on strengthening continental cooperation to ensure sustainable financing, strong leadership, and self-reliance of African health systems.

His Majesty King Letsi III of Lesotho, accompanied by the Minister of Health, Dr. Mekdes Daba, visited the Child Care and Nutrition Unit at Zewditu Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa, where he commended Ethiopia’s commitment to improving maternal and child health.
Speaking during the visit, His Majesty King Letsi stressed that “effective nutrition policies save lives” and noted that Ethiopia’s nutrition reform efforts have shown exemplary results. He also highlighted the critical role nutrition plays in preventing disease and reducing child mortality.

Ethiopia’s successful containment of the Marburg virus disease represents a major public health achievement, realized through strong leadership, rapid response, and coordinated action, according to His Excellency Tagese Chafo, Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. He emphasized that this success is the result of close cooperation and integration among health policymakers, health professionals, and key stakeholders.