EPHA in Collaboration with Ministry of Health/AACAHB Conduct Community Based Active Case Surveillance and RCCE of COVID-19 Pandemic

The Ethiopian Public Health Association (EPHA) in collaboration with Ministry of Health/Addis Ababa City Administration Health Bureau has conducted Community Based Active Case Surveillance and Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) of COVID-19 pandemic.

The objective of this surveillance is to reduce the spread of COVID-19 pandemic through a house to house search and testing of people with Acute Respiratory Tract Infections.

Besides, it helps to enhance the implementation capacity of the community based team engaged in the active case surveillance of COVID-19 infection through providing technical and administrative supports.

According to Ato Bekele Chaka Acting Research and Publication director, the target population of the surveillance is residents of 30 selected woredas in Addis Ababa which were identified as hotspot areas by AACAHB.

The financial support is from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation managed under Emergency preparedness and response COVID-19 plan of the Federal Ministry of Health.
EPHA is striving to its utmost in areas of community wide operational activities through providing technical, logistics and financial assistance before the pandemic becomes a major challenge to the country’s health system.

Public Health Emergency and Preparedness Technical Working Group (TWG) of EPHA Design a Strategy on prevention of COVID-19 Pandemic 

According to Ato Yusuf Abdu, Acting Director of Members Affairs and Networking Directorate and secretary of TWG, the TWG has developed a strategy.

The strategy consists development of a protocol on how to train Health Extension Workers to assist COVID-19 outbreak prevention.

It also includes house to house active case detection and contact tracing surveillance.

Besides, the TWG is working on a Strategy to implement legal enforcement on stay at home and social distancing.

Development of the role and responsibility of community volunteer’s response and reaching the unreached community who are susceptible for COVID-19 pandemic are also part of the major focuses of the TWG.

 EPHA Staffs Contribute from 10-100% Salary for Prevention of Covid-19 Pandemic

In response to the Ethiopian Civil Society Organizations Forum (ECSF), the Ethiopian Public Health Association (EPHA) secretariat staff have contributed from 10 to 100% of their monthly salary for the prevention of Covid-19 pandemic. 

According to Ato Abebayehu Belay, Finance and Admin Director of EPHA, from a total of 36 employee ETB 146, 953 (One hundred forty-six thousand nine hundred fifty-three) has been collected to support the fight against coronavirus disease.

Dr. Alemayehu Mekonnen, Executive Director of EPHA, in his part said it is critical time to show solidarity of citizens to safeguard the national economy and to fight the biggest challenge of the time.

EPHA deposited the contribution to the Ethiopian Civil Society Organization Forum Commercial Bank account number (1000328055515) which is particularly created for the COVID-19 Emergency Response and Preparedness program. This amount in turn will be transferred to the Corona Mitigation trust Fund Account opened for the purpose

It is to be recalled that, EPHA as a Health Professionals Association is in the frontline to involve in different activities of combating the pandemic.

የኮሮና ቫይረስ ስርጭትን ለመግታት የአካላዊ እና ማኅበራዊ መራራቅ ትግበራ እጅግ አናሳና በጣም አሳሳቢ በመሆኑ ሕብረተሰቡ ትኩረት ሰጥቶ እንዲተገብር የሙያ ማኅበራት ጥሪ አቀረቡ።

የኢትዮጵያ ጤና አጠባበቅ ማኅበር፣ የኢትዮጵያ ህክምና ማኅበር፣ የኢትዮጵያ ነርሶች ማኅበር፣ የኅብረተሰብ ጤና አጠባበቅ መኮንኖች ማኅበር፣ የኢትዮጵያ አካባቢ ጤና ባለሞያዎች ማኅበር፣ የኢትዮጵያ የፋርማሲ ማኅበር፣ የኢትዮጵያ ሳይኮሎጂ ባለሞያዎች ማኅበር፣ የኢትዮጵያ ህክምና ላቦራቶሪ ማኅበር እና የኢትዮጵያ ሚድዋይፎች ማኅበር በቅንጅት የኮሮና ቫይረስ ስርጭትን ለመግታት የሚደረጉ ተግባራዊ እንቅስቃሴዎችን በመከታተል ላይ እንደሚገኙ ይታወቃል።

ማኅበራቱ ለዝግጅት ክፍላችን በላኩት መግለጫ በተለይም የትንሳኤ በዓልን አስመልክቶ በግብይት ስርአቱ ወቅት በአካላዊ መራራቅ ትግበራ ረገድ የታየው ቸልታ እጅግ አሳሳቢ መሆኑን በማውሳት በቤት ውስጥ መቆየትና የጉዞ ክልከላ ህጎች በተግባር እንዲተረጎሙ ጠይቀዋል። 

አያይዘውም የጤና ባለሙያዎችን የግል ደህንንት መጠበቂያ ቁሳቁሶች እጥረትን ለመቅረፍ መንግስት በአገር ውስጥ በማምረትም ሆነ በፈጣን የግዥ ሒደት  የቁሳቁሶች አቅርቦትና ተደራሽነት እንዲጨምር አሳስበዋል፡፡

እንደማኅበራቱ መግለጫ በየእለቱ ምርመራ እየተደረገላችው ያሉት ሰዎች ቁጥር አነስተኛ በመሆኑ የጤና ሚኒስቴር የናሙና ምርመራ አቅርቦቱን በማሳደግ በቀን ቢያንስ 5,000 ለሚያህሉ ሰዎች ምርመራ እንዲያካሂድ መክረዋል።

የበሽታ አምጪ ተሃዋሲያንን ለመከላከልና ለመቆጣጠር የተዘጋጁ መመሪያዎችን የጤና ባለሙያዎች በሁሉም ቦታና ጊዜ በአግባቡና በጥብቅ እንዲተገብሩ አበክረው ያሳሰቡ ሲሆን፤ በየብስና በአየር ወደ ሃገር ውስጥ የሚገቡ መንገደኞች በበሽታ አምጭ ተሃዋሲያን መከላከልና ቁጥጥር መርሆች መሰረት ከፍተኛ ጥንቃቄ እንዲደረግ ጠይቀው፤ ለዚህም ትግበራ የቴክኒክ እገዛ ለመስጠት ቁርጠኛ መሆናቸውን አረጋግጠዋል፡፡

በመጨረሻም የሚዲያ አካላት ተአማኒነቱ የተረጋገጠ መረጃ በማቅረብና በሽታውን ለመከላከል በሚደረጉ ጥረቶች ረገድ አርአያ መሆን እንዳለባቸው የሙያ ማኅበራቱ  አሳስበዋል፡፡