An Artificial Limb Fitment Camp supported by Government of India under the ‘India for Humanity’ project has been set up by Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS), of Jaipur Foot fame, at St Paul’s Hospital in Addis Ababa. It was formally inaugurated on 29th November 2019 by Ergogie Tesfaye, Minister of Labour & Social Affairs, Dr. Lia Tadesse Gebremedhin, State Minister of Health and Ambassador of India to Ethiopia and the African Union Anurag Srivastava. The camp will provide and fit artificial limbs free of cost to more than 500 persons with disabilities and will be in operation till 31st December 2019.
Speaking at the inaugural event, Ambassador Anurag Srivastava informed that the ‘India for Humanity’ initiative was launched by the Indian government as a tribute to the philosophy of compassion, caring and service to humanity of one of the greatest men who lived in the last century, Mahatma Gandhi, and to mark his 150th birth anniversary. He highlighted that India has a large and growing development partnership with countries in Africa, including with Ethiopia. This partnership has a strong humanitarian component and shares experience and knowledge in a spirit of solidarity with these countries which are treading similar paths of socio-economic development. He also outlined the ten guiding principles for India’s engagement with Africa as laid down by Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi last year and said that India’s development partnership is inspired by the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutambakam – which says the world is one family.
India organizes Artificial Limbs Fitment Camp at Addis Ababa
Ethiopia’s 1st and Innovative Health-tech Startup Orbit Health has successfully closed its Seed Investment Round
Orbitly INC, with its subsidiary eHealth IT Services PLC (Orbit Health) announced that it has successfully closed its first external seed-investment, co-led by Africa based Savannah VC fund and New York based Betam Group, LLC, along with other diaspora HNW investors.
The fund raise comes at a time when Orbit Health has been selected as a successful Ethiopian Digital Health company, part of the consortium led by US based John Snow Inc, to help transform Ethiopia’s healthcare digitally, with a contract amounting to $63M, over 5 years. The fund will contribute in helping Orbit Health increase its human capital to roll out its ambitious growth plans and delivery of its contractual wins in Ethiopia, as well as invest in its digital offerings, curated to healthcare facilities in Ethiopia.
Pazion Chernet, Co-Founder & CEO of Orbitly, commented “It gives me great pleasure to welcome our strategic investors that will position us from a startup to high rise, with their tremendous VC funding and growth experience and wisdom. I am especially proud to announce our first external fund raise that coincided with our double win in digitizing Ethiopia’s healthcare with our partners JSI, USAID and Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health. We started Orbitly with a firm belief that a healthy society is the foundation of a productive society and we will do our part in changing the misconceptions that living a healthy life in Sub-Saharan Africa is a luxury, by helping strengthen the weak healthcare infrastructure, through end-to-end innovative technology solutions. This fund raise will enable us to deliver on our promise, at scale and we are extremely hopeful of what the future holds for us and our clients.”
U.S., Ethiopian Defense officials meet at Pentagon
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for African Affairs Pete Marocco and Minister of Defense Lemma Megerssa co-chaired the 9th annual U.S.-Ethiopia Bilateral Defense Committee in Washington, District of Columbia.
During the visit, the United States and Ethiopia shared views on regional security, peacekeeping, intelligence and military relations, with the goal of strengthening their security partnership. Both nations reaffirmed their commitment to the U.S-Ethiopia bilateral relationship and highlighted the significant increase in security cooperation between the two countries over the last 18 months.
The Ethiopian delegation also met with Performing the Duties of Deputy Under Secretary of Defense James Anderson and the Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence Joseph Kernan. Anderson thanked Ethiopia for their leadership and military contributions throughout the region and commended Lemma for the ongoing security sector reforms Ethiopia is undertaking.
U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia Michael Raynor expressed gratitude to the Ethiopian government and the Ethiopian National Defense Force for their participation, continued close partnership and commitment to future collaboration.
Malaria increasingly a disease of poverty and inequity, reveals World Malaria Report 2019
The RBM Partnership to End Malaria welcomes the publication of the World Malaria Report 2019, which demonstrates that global investments and action against malaria are making a big difference, yet half the world – overwhelmingly the most vulnerable – are still at the greatest risk of dying from a mosquito bite.
According to the World Malaria Report 2019, released today by the World Health Organization (WHO), global malaria cases and deaths are declining but at a slowed rate: from an estimated 231 million to 228 million cases and from 416,000 to 405,000 deaths between 2017 and 2018. Importantly, estimates show that in 2018, global efforts saved almost 600,000 lives per year and prevented almost 100 million malaria cases per year compared to 2000.
The report shows malaria still strikes hardest against some of the most vulnerable members of society – pregnant women and children under five – particularly in Africa, which accounts for 93% of global malaria cases. An estimated 11 million pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa – 29% of all pregnancies – were infected with malaria in 2018, resulting in nearly 900,000 children in 38 African countries being born with a low birth weight. The report also found that the percentage of eligible women receiving the 3 recommended or more doses of Intermittent Preventive Treatment in Pregnancy (IPTp) increased from 22% to 31% in just one year, but still is far from universal coverage.
