USA, Ethiopia Renew Partnership to End Tuberculosis

Addis Ababa ENA September 13/2019 The US and Ethiopia have signed a new statement of partnership agreement to continue working closely together to end tuberculosis (TB) across the country, according to a press release issued by the US embassy.

United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director, Sean Jones, and Health State Minister Dr. Lia Tadesse signed the statement of partnership under which Ethiopia will be one of the 30 focus countries under USAID’s new Global Accelerator to End TB initiative, it was learned.

The initiative is a new model that USAID is employing in order to leverage greater resources from partner countries, private sector partners, and other local organizations in order to meet the UN target of treating 40 million people worldwide by 2022.

The Global Accelerator to End TB initiative will focus on locally generated solutions that tailor USAID’s TB response to patients and communities in order to better address their diagnosis, treatment and prevention needs.

USAID has been working closely with the Ministry of Health and regional health bureaus across Ethiopia to strengthen the national TB program since 2000, the press release added.

Accordingly, Ethiopia has detected and treated more than 2 million TB cases, significantly reducing TB incidence by more than half, while cutting TB-related deaths by nearly 70 percent over the past two decades.