Food-borne diseases present a serious threat to the health of millions of people in Ethiopia. Serious outbreaks of food-borne diseases have public health and economic significance. Food safety is one of the IHR core capacities and One Health focused themes (IHR 2005). Following 2023 Joint External Evaluation (JEE) recommendations and Food Safety Technical Working Group (TWG) guidance IHR and OH Office Ethiopian public health institute took action to develop a multisectoral food safety strategy and action plan.
UKHSA IHR-SP organised a multisectoral food safety strategy development workshop which took place on 5 – 7 September 2024 at Bishoftu, Ethiopia. UKHSA IHR-SP team were involved in facilitation and guiding the group discussion. The objective of the workshop was to develop a multisectoral food safety three-year strategy. Attendees included 22 participants from seven government organisations and three developmental One Health partners.
Dr Wubshet Zewdie, Lead Executive Officer of the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), Dr Baye Ashenefe, UKHSA-IHR-SP One Health Technical Advisor, and Professor Kebede Amenu, postdoctoral fellow Animal Health and Food Safety, Animal, and Human Health Programme welcomed the participants. All partners emphasised that food safety is a top priority for Ethiopia. They agreed that developing and implementing a multisectoral food safety Strategic Plan would be the key intervention to enhance multisectoral food safety surveillance and detection systems in Ethiopia.
The workshop was formally opened by Dr Feyesa Regessa, Head of IHR and One Health office, EPHI who thanked UKHSA IHR-SP and the International Livestock Research Institute for organising and supporting this workshop.
Dr Baye Ashenefe, One Health Technical Advisor, UKHSA IHR-SP reiterated the objective of the workshop to develop the three-year (2024-2026) food safety strategy. He added that UKHSA IHR-SP provided technical input into food safety surveillance and detection gap identification and Food Safety TWG establishment. During the workshop the participants were divided into two groups to develop the draft Strategic Plan. Group representatives then presented their draft Strategy Plan for general comments and feedback, and then inputs were incorporated and approved at the technical level by the Food Safety TWG.
The workshop was closed by Dr Wubshet Asnake, Chair of the Food Safety TWG, who expressed sincere thanks to all those who contributed towards the success of this workshop. He thanked the chairs/ facilitators and the rapporteurs of the groups for their dedicated hard work and the exceptional manner in which they had developed the documents with the given schedule. Finally, Dr Asnake extended his huge thanks to UKHSA IHR SP and International Livestock Research Institute for organising successfully and supporting this workshop.
The participating sectors and partners were:
- Ethiopia Public Health Institute
- Ministry of Agriculture Ethiopia Food and Drug Authority
- Ethiopia Agricultural Authority
- Ministry of Water and Energy
- Addis Ababa University Public Health and Water Department
- Minister of Trade and Industry
- United Kingdom Health Security Agency
- International Livestock Research Institute, and
- Family Health International 360
Image: food safety workshop participants