The Global One Health initiative (GOHi), in collaboration with the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), facilitated a “Vulnerability, Risk Assessment and Mapping (VRAM) and Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (EPRP)” workshop in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, June 13-19. VRAM is a systematic approach to prioritize common hazards, define levels of vulnerability and capacity to help develop effective and efficient risk reduction and mitigation interventions.
As a capacity building key activity, GOHi has conducted VRAM and EPRP workshops in 10 hotspot districts in the Oromia region and in Dire Dawa to assess and quantify the level of vulnerability, risk and existing capacity within the community and the health system for select priority hazards to ensure effective risk reduction and response to public health emergencies.
Vulnerabilities, capacities and risk indexes in each district have been calculated and prioritized using the World Health Organization tool, STAR. PHEM and communicable disease experts from all 10 districts and zones have assessed and prioritized all the hazards and risks in their own districts and prepared VRAM and EPRP documents.
The Woreda (District) level risk informed planning practice is one of the milestones achieved by the Public Health Emergency (PHEM) system in Ethiopia. Launched in March 2021, it has proven to be a game changer and is considered one of the government’s innovative flagship programs.