IVI and Ethiopia
Ethiopian Leadership at IVI
Dr. Demissie Habte of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences was a founding leader of IVI, serving on the IVI Board of Trustees from 1995 to 1997.
Official Relations
In 2024, the government of Ethiopia expressed its interest in becoming a member state of IVI. In February 2024, the IVI Board of Trustees voted to approve the accession of Ethiopia to the IVI Establishment Agreement.
In order to complete the accession process, the government of Ethiopia must deposit an instrument of accession to the IVI Establishment Agreement with the United Nations Treaty Section.
Ongoing Collaboration
In 2021, IVI and the Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) entered into an MOU to establish an IVI Collaborating Center at AHRI headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. This collaboration center develops and implements collaborative programs in vaccine R&D and capacity building for global health. Read more
Ethiopia Cholera Control and Prevention (ECCP)
Globally, ECCP sought to build a model for the ‘Ending Cholera—A Global Roadmap to 2030’ initiative in cholera-endemic countries.
Since 2021, ECCP has established a cholera and diarrheal disease monitoring system to strengthen local public health capabilities in Ethiopia. Additionally, in 2022, ECCP provided free cholera vaccination to 100,000 residents in cholera-risk areas, using the oral cholera vaccine (OCV) developed by IVI and produced by the Korean vaccine manufacturer, EuBiologics. Read more
The project also evaluated the effectiveness and impact of the OCV after vaccination and collected epidemiological data on cholera and other diarrheal diseases through several years of follow-up monitoring. This contributed to the Ethiopian government’s efforts to establish policies for combating waterborne diseases including cholera.
The ECCP project published a supplement in Clinical Infectious Diseases summarizing key findings on OCV coverage, household survey results, and a national overview of cholera trends and OCV usage. In July 2024, an ECCP workshop in Hawassa, Ethiopia, engaged relevant stakeholders in planning future prevention strategies.
ECCP was funded by the Korea Support Committee for IVI, LG Electronics, and a number of other donors including organizations, companies and individuals, and is conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, and AHRI.
Ethiopia Cholera Control and Prevention (ECCP) – Plus
As the ECCP project was concluding, IVI secured additional funding in order to continue the surveillance and analysis activities. As an extension of ECCP, under the ECCP-Plus initiative, IVI and AHRI continue their cholera and diarrheal disease surveillance, along with conducting a study on the effectiveness and impact of the two-dose OCV, Euvichol-Plus®. The data collected helps to assess cholera trends and identify risk factors.
ECCP-Plus is funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) and KEPCO KPS and continues the collaboration with the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, and AHRI.
Typhoid Surveillance in Brazil, Ethiopia, and Peru
In 2024, IVI launched three projects to estimate the seroincidence of Salmonella Typhi and Salmonella Paratyphi A infections in Peru, Brazil, and Ethiopia.
The project in Ethiopia, named Enteric Fever Serosurveillance in Ethiopia (EFEp) involves a cross-sectional population-based serosurvey in both urban and rural areas within Asoso and Welkite for Salmonella infections, blood culture surveillance in the highest burden areas, the estimation of incidence rates for typhoid, paratyphoid, invasive non-typhoidal Salmonella, and other pathogenic Enterobacterales, and assessing antimicrobial resistance.
In Ethiopia, EFEp is being conducted in collaboration with AHRI. EFEp is funded by the government of Sweden.
Previous Collaboration
World Health Assembly Side Event Collaboration
In 2024, IVI organized an event on the sidelines of the 77th World Health Assembly in partnership with the Governments of the Kingdom of Bhutan, Republic of El Salvador, the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Republic of Korea, and the Kingdom of Sweden to explore an alignment between national vaccine strategies and efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in low- and middle-income countries.
Ethiopia was represented by H.E. Dr. Mekdes Daba, the Minister for Health of Ethiopia, who delivered an address on the threat of AMR in Ethiopia.
In a panel discussion entitled the Gaps and Challenges for Aligning the AMR and Vaccine Agendas in LMICs, Prof. Afework Kassu Gisaw, the Director General of the Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI) in Ethiopia, discussed the barriers to generating local data, a critical challenge in LMICs
Vaccinology Course Training
Over 13 Ethiopian scientists and medical professionals have received training in IVI’s Vaccinology Course.
Oral Cholera Vaccination Campaign
Between February and March 2015, an IVI-led consortium conducted one of the first mass vaccination campaigns using the IVI-developed Shanchol oral cholera vaccine (OCV). With funding from Korea’s LG Electronics and the coordination of the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, WHO, UNICEF, and Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI), over 100,000 doses of OCV were provided to over 45,000 people in selected kebeles of Rural Shashemenae District in west Arsi zone of Oromia region. Each participant received two doses of OCV.
Severe Typhoid Surveillance in Africa Program (SETA)
Between 2016 and 2018 in Adama Wenji, IVI worked with Shewa Alem Tena Health Center, Gefersa Health Center, Kuriftu Health Center, and Adama Hospital to study the burden of typhoid in over 53,000 people.
In Welayita Sodo, IVI worked with Sodo Health Center, Sodo Teaching Hospital, and Sodo Christian Hospital to study the burden of typhoid in over 120,000 people.
The surveillance studies included additional cost of illness studies, health economic evaluations, cost of other illnesses, quality of life studies, and long-term socio-economic studies.
Typhoid Fever Surveillance in Africa Program (TSAP)
Between 2010 and 2013 in Butajira, Ethiopia, IVI surveilled over 62,000 people to determine the incidence of typhoid in the area.