National Advocacy Workshop on Podoconiosis and Scabies held in Ethiopia

Following the partnership agreement entered with the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) under the 5S Foundation Ethiopia project, NaPAN organized a national advocacy workshop on podoconiosis and scabies. The half day workshop was held March 14, 2020 at Jupiter Hotel in Addis Ababa in the presence of various stakeholders from the regional and national governments of Ethiopia. The workshop had two sessions: the opening and a panel discussion session. The workshop was led by Mossie Tamiru LF/Podo coordinator at the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) and the panel discussion was moderated by Dr. Fikreab Kebede, NTD technical advisor for the FMoH. During the opening session, Fikre Seife, the NTD team leader at the FMoH made an opening remark thanking the organisers for the event which came at a time when the revised NTD master plan is being launched in Ethiopia. He stressed the need for a multi-sectoral effort to address the myriad of issues associated with NTDs. After his remark, a documentary film about a podo affected young girl was screened to the audience in order to sensitize them the challenges faced by people living with the skin condition. The workshop also had a panel discussion session whereby Dr. Asrat Mengiste from CDT-Africa, Dr. Kibur Engdawork from 5S-Ethiopia project and Fikre Seife from FMoH presented on the impact of the two skin conditions on people’s health, the socio-economic impacts of the skin conditions and what has been done to ensure country ownership to sustain progress respectively. After the panel discussions a number of questions and reflections were raised from the participants. Participants thanked the panelists and the organisers of the workshop and pledged to support in mobilizing the required resources and bring the needed attention on board to end these stigmatizing diseases.