Addis Ababa, August 25, 2026 (FMC) — Ethiopia has recorded major gains in health coverage, local production of health products and emergency preparedness, Health Minister Dr. Mekdes Daba said.
Addressing the 76th Session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa in Addis Ababa, Dr. Mekdes said Ethiopia’s health-sector progress over the past decade has increasingly translated into measurable improvements in the lives of its people.
She said maternal mortality declined from 871 to 141 deaths per 100,000 live births, according to Ethiopia’s 2024–2025 Demographic and Health Survey, while under-five mortality fell from 67 to 51 deaths per 1,000 live births since 2016.
Child wasting also declined from 10% to 5% over the same period, while primary healthcare coverage increased from 64% to 86.3%, the minister said.
The scale of demand for healthcare has also expanded significantly, with more than 233 million outpatient visits recorded over a one-year period, she said.
Ethiopia’s health workforce has grown from 212,185 health professionals to about 325,000, while the total number of health-sector personnel, including support staff, has approached half a million, according to Dr. Mekdes.
She said the country has simultaneously expanded financial protection through community-based health insurance, which now covers more than 69 million people and has reached 91% of its targeted coverage.
“Health cannot be sustainable without financing it,” Dr. Mekdes said, calling for greater domestic resource mobilization, improved efficiency and stronger financial protection.
She said international partnerships remain important, but external support should help countries build lasting domestic capacity rather than create permanent dependency.
Ethiopia has also made significant progress in local production of medicines and other health products, with the domestic market share supplied by local manufacturers increasing from 8% to 44%, the minister said.
She added that the Ethiopian Food and Drug Authority (EFDA) has reached WHO Maturity Level 3, marking progress in strengthening the country’s regulatory capacity.
Dr. Mekdes described localization as more than an industrial policy, saying it has become an integral part of Ethiopia’s health-security strategy, particularly following the vulnerabilities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
She also highlighted Ethiopia’s expansion of digital health systems, saying community health records under the Ethiopian Community Health Information System have grown from about 112,000 records seven years ago to coverage of around 7 million households, representing data on more than 33 million people.
The minister stressed that digital transformation must be guided by equity, ensuring that people in rural and remote communities benefit from technological advances as much as those in urban areas.
Ethiopia has further strengthened its capacity to detect and respond to public health emergencies, with outbreak detection capacity increasing from 65% to 95%, while rapid-response team coverage has risen from 75% to 93%, she said.
Dr. Mekdes said the experience of COVID-19 and other emergencies demonstrated that preparedness cannot be postponed until a crisis occurs.
She said preparedness must therefore become an integral part of the country’s health-system architecture, urging continued investment in emergency readiness.
Looking ahead, the minister said Ethiopia’s next phase of health-system transformation must place greater emphasis on quality alongside scale, with primary healthcare, communities and health workers remaining at the center of the effort.
She stressed that technology, financing, workforce development and local manufacturing should ultimately serve one objective: ensuring that every person can access the healthcare they need as close to home as possible.
Dr. Mekdes urged African countries to use the Regional Committee session not merely to adopt strategies, but to translate them into implementation, calling for greater investment in people, stronger primary healthcare systems, sustainable health financing, expanded local production, digital transformation and equitable access.
She said the success of Africa’s health systems should ultimately be measured not by the number of strategies adopted or technologies introduced, but by whether mothers receive care when needed, children are protected from preventable diseases and health workers have the tools required to serve their communities.
Dr. Mekdes called for greater African solidarity in building stronger and more resilient health systems, saying the continent’s health future would depend on collective action by its countries and institutions.