Health State Minister Dr. Kebede Worku urged all the stakeholders to intensify their effort for the successful implementable of the Urban Health Extension Programme (UHEP) launched in 2009.
Speaking at the National Conference on Urban Health held yesterday, the state minister said in order to scale up achievements gained so far through the programme need to be enhanced.
Therefore, he called for concreted efforts of government and other pertinent bodies to step up their role in sharing knowledge, experiences and skills to address health problems in urban areas.
He added that the Health Sector Transformation Plan (HSTP) has considered the urban health issues as a priority.
According to him, owing to attention given to the heath sector infant mortality rate has reduced by 67 per cent since 1991 and the life expectancy of Ethiopians has been raised from 45 to 64 years.
The reduction of HIV and AIDS risk impact and vulnerability rate by 90 per cent over the last 12 years and the mortality rate by 50 per cent indicate that Ethiopia has been successfully implementing its health policies and strategies, according to the State Minister.
Dr. Kebede underlined that his ministry has deployed more than 43,000 health extension workers both in urban and rural areas to provide training and supervision which could elevate the awareness of the public.
He added that Ethiopia would increase its efforts in addressing the health and sanitation challenges that could be caused due to urbanization and lifestyle change of the society.
“Urbanization is good but it has numerous challenges. Though Ethiopia is still characterized by low proportion of urban population in the world, it has rapid urbanization development rate.
As non-communicable diseases like hypertension, diabetes and heart attack are increasing in urban areas, prevention mechanisms should be enhanced to reduce the burden, he noted.
As part of these efforts, the has deployed 5,000 health extension workers in all urban centres of the country since 2009, he said.
Addis Ababa City Council Speaker Dr.Tabor Gebremedhin on his part said that his administration has been vigorously working to make the African capital clean, green, healthy and hospitable.
Regarding enhancing the health sector of the city, the Speaker insisted that the city administration has been working to provide modern, reachable and affordable health service to all its residents.
“The health extension package we have launched ten years ago has become our great accomplishment. But we need to speed up our pace with the ever growing population,” the Speaker noted.
According to him, although many activities remain to be undertaken, more than 75 health centres and several hospitals have been constructed and renovated.
The two day conference attracted health professionals from towns across the country as well as from USAID and JSI.