Capital Gears to Host Antimicrobials Summit


Officials, healthcare experts and academicians from 12 African countries will gather in Addis Abeba this week to address the silent pandemic of Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) which has become a public health concern. The two-day regional summit organized by the World Health Organization (WHO) aims to review the responsible and appropriate use of Antimicrobials and encourage partnership and resource mobilisation of the health system. Sub-Saharan Africa has seen the highest burden of AMR-related deaths with a significant impact on the economy where close to 1.27 million deaths were attributed to it while 4.95 million deaths were recorded to its associated factors. The meeting is scheduled to discuss common concerns and explore methods to strengthen antimicrobial-related governance and management where a joint information-sharing platform for its implementation is expected to be developed.


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LOFTY CONSTRUCTS

A painting depicts traditional farming equipment at the Science Museum around the Arat Kilo area. Since the seizing of power by the current administration, large-scale architectural projects marked by grandeur have proliferated across the capital. The satellite city being built in the Yeka mountains, which is set to cost around 600 billion Br, according to the Prime Minister, is one such project yet to see the light of day. Some estimates put the plot size for the project at around 503hct despit...


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CLEAN BILL

A queue for diagnostics at the nation's largest state-owned hospital, Black Lion. As the health sector is largely funded by development partners from abroad, decreased support as donors shied away due to the war in the North has required the suspension of several new projects. Social health Insurance slated for next year was scraped due to a budgetary shortfall of five billion Birr. With the physician-to-patient ratio titering at around 1:30,000, queues in public hospitals are commonplace in Eth...


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ACRID GROUNDS

A street vendor puts up pepper for sale around the Lideta area. With agricultural produce accounting for the largest share of the nation's GDP at around 40pc, setbacks in the delivery of fertilizer have become a source of strife in rural Ethiopia. Only a third of the scheduled fertilizer of 1.3 million quintals has been distributed into the hands of farmers this year. This is despite the year being one in which the government claims to have met local demand for wheat and started exporting. Low p...