A five-year national plan, One Health Strategic Plan, that will enable Ethiopia to prevent, control, and respond to new and known infections was launched today. A memorandum of understanding, to be implemented in partnership with the United States, was also signed with four Ministries. The signatories along with the United States were the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Resources, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

A national One Health Steering Committee composed of senior officials from the ministries is already in place to institutionalize and implement the plan by 2022. The state minister said it is particularly useful for Ethiopia with resources and capacity constraints to prevent, detect and respond to increasing concerns posed by emerging public health threats.