Ethiopia SVD/EVD Preparedness & Response; Overview

December 5/2022
Kigali, Rwanda
 Background
Ethiopia is a federal state having 13 regions with
11 National regional state & 2 city administration

Population- 123,379,924( 2022 UN projection)

Located in the Horn of Africa.

Bordered by Eritrea to the north, Djibouti and 

Somalia to the east, Sudan and South Sudan to
the west, and Kenya to the south

Has both air & ground crossing PoEs

Daily flight from Uganda to AABIA

National EVD/SVD Preparedness

Following SVD(Sudan virus disease) outbreak in Uganda, Ethiopia has initiated

d/t preparedness activities

Technical Working Group(TWG) established comprising of six

sections/pillars
TWG coordination team

Administration / Finance, Security and Liaison pillar

Points of entry Pillar

Case management & IPC pillar

Epi-Surveillance & Laboratory pillar

RCCE Pillar
Cont.

 6 month EVD/SVD EPRP developed and finalized.

 EVD/SVD Technical documents prepared and revised

ETU/ECU facility identified and prepared

Region and National SIMEX to be conducted

 Initiatives to improve early detection
Alert dissemination to all concerned bodies (National to the Region)

Capacity building for the HCW working at PoEs & respective PoEs
designated referral sites (Training for both health & non-health staff) on;
passengers screening strategies

Case management

IPC

Dignified & safe burial practice

Sample collection & transportation

 Initiatives …
 Follow up of the passengers who have travel history to Uganda
 Community sensitization & awareness creation at PoEs with high
population traffic

Sensitization of front- line Primary health care facilities to ensure timely

suspicion and detection of cases

Enhancing surveillance related activities at the PoEs and health facilities

Regular EVD SitRep prepared and disseminated to National and sub-

national structures
 Initiatives …
Development and dissemination of the SVD/EVD working
documents
Interim SVD/EVD Surveillance and response guideline prepared

SVD/EVD case definition

Developments of different Standard operating procedures

o Screening of passengers

o Suspect handling on board flight

o Suspect transfer

o IPC protocol (Donning & doffing ,Env’tal cleaning & disinfection )

o Decision Algorithms
Challenges
Issues related with Travelers health declaration
form(THDF);
Filling before arrival?? Onboard filling ??

Contact with hardcopy of THDF ??

Absence of electronic HDF due to( No unlimited Gmail account and

failure to generate electronic health declaration form (QR code))

 Collaboration from all airlines operators ??

 To appropriately initiate onboard THDF filling
 Frequency and modality of follow up for passengers from outbreak
affected countries
Daily vs ??

Phone call vs In-person follow up ??

Prioritized enhanced follow up ??

Way forward
Frequent information /surveillance data sharing among
countries(members state/IHR signatory) through IHR NFP

Enhance exit Passengers health screening in outbreak affected

country/ies

Create a mechanism to initiate electronic THDF

Provide training for health & non-health staff working at PoEs(for

early detection)

All airlines operators should practice onboard filling of THDF

Thank You!!