The Global One Health initiative (GOHi) recently provided the Ethiopian Public Health Institute with essential laboratory reagents to detect various pathogens that cause disease, including SARS-CoV-2, influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and anthrax. This contribution is pivotal for enhancing routine monitoring of respiratory pathogens and responding effectively to the suspected anthrax outbreak in the northern part of the country.
This initiative is closely aligned with GOHi's dedication to the National Influenza Surveillance Program, which spans five molecular laboratories and more than 20 influenza sentinel surveillance sites. These resources are set to significantly strengthen respiratory pathogen surveillance and expedite the identification of anthrax outbreaks, thereby boosting the country's preparedness and response capacities in public health.
GOHi has provided this support through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention funded project called “Advancing Ethiopia’s capacity for laboratory, workforce development, surveillance, and emergency management to meet international health regulations requirements.” The objective of the project is to enhance Ethiopia's capacity for effective emergency response, strengthening systems to detect health threats, improving diagnostics capabilities and building a skilled healthcare workforce.