Ethiopia, using experiences from the polio program in the response to coronavirus

Many frontline workers are putting their lives on-the-line in the response to COVID-19 Pandemic. They put their lives at risk daily, tasked with the critical mission of controlling the spread and mitigating the impact of this pandemic. Mrs. Berhane Beyene is one of those heroines with the mission-essential task of keeping laboratory surveillance and detection of COVID-19 in motion.

As a critical Staff in the Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Mrs. Beyene, despite the UN Circular information on the AWW ?Alternative Ways of Working) and the "stay home" announcement from the government, Mrs. Beyene is working nonstop, including weekends, and not even getting enough sleep since the declaration of COVID-19 pandemic.

Every day at the Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), Mrs. Beyene works along with her National Lab Team to make sure COVID-19 testing is conducted accurately and continuously. The Ethiopian Public Health Institute (EPHI), the technical arm of the Ministry of Health (MoH) is tasked with managing public health emergencies.

Mrs. Berhane Beyene is one of the many World Health Organization (WHO) Ethiopia workers who have been deployed to the COVID-19 outbreak preparedness and now response under WHO Incident Management System. She is assigned by WHO to coordinate the laboratory pillar, mainly supporting the establishment and expansion of COVID-19 testing laboratories at the national and regional levels throughout the country.

"I feel proud of being able to do my part to serve my country in fighting against COVID-19," Berhane says while asked about her thoughts about her task during this challenging period.

Reflecting on her 22 years' experience, Berhane expressed how her expertise from the national polio laboratory and the work on other viral pathogens in the Laboratory helped her to support the establishment of COVID-19 laboratory testing capacity during the current pandemic. "I was engaged in the establishment of the National Polio Laboratory in 1998 from the inception of EPHI.

With continuous technical, logistic and financial support from WHO, the Laboratory managed to conduct testing using cell culture and molecular technology for more than 3500 Acute Flaccid paralysis (AFP) samples and contacts coming through the surveillance system from 9 regions and 2 city administrations. The laboratory expanded its activity and established Environmental surveillance in three regions since 2017.

The Laboratory maintained accreditation for the past 18 years and integrated other vaccine-preventable diseases laboratory detection such as measles, rubella, Rotavirus and influenza laboratory surveillance throughout the country. After integrating the National Measles Laboratory which was founded in 2005, it expanded to sub-national measles laboratories in Amhara and SNNPR regions.

The national and sub-national measles laboratories are accredited under the WHO to deliver on-time laboratory result for Public Health Emergency Management by processing more than 4000 samples from the case-based surveillance throughout the country.

The National Polio Laboratory and other vaccine-preventable diseases surveillance is under Public Health Emergency Management at EPHI and supported by the WHO EPI and surveillance team at the National and regional level. As a virology research team leader for the past ten years at EPHI, I have been serving as a senior researcher and licensed chief public health expert and mainly engaged with heading the National Polio and Measles Laboratory and other Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Laboratory services."

The laboratory technical guidance for COVID-19, laboratory reagent and kit provision, technical support, External Quality Assurance, laboratory capacity-building through training and supportive supervisions were the major support of WHO through the overall leadership of the WR Ethiopia Dr. Boureima Hama SAMBO and the well-organized coordination of the Incident Manager Dr. Emmanuel Musa and the EPR Team Lead Dr. Aggrey Bategereza.

The success of the laboratory pillar was also dependent on the dedication and contribution of other COVID-19 response team pillars such as surveillance, point of entry, risk communication, case management, logistic and Infection prevention and control.

"I feel proud of being able to do my part to serve my country in fighting against COVID-19," Berhane says while asked about her thoughts about her task during this challenging period.

Reflecting on her 22 years' experience, Berhane expressed how her expertise from the national polio laboratory and the work on other viral pathogens in the Laboratory helped her to support the establishment of COVID-19 laboratory testing capacity during the current pandemic.

"I was engaged in the establishment of the National Polio Laboratory in 1998 from the inception of EPHI. With continuous technical, logistic and financial support from WHO, the Laboratory managed to conduct testing using cell culture and molecular technology for more than 3500 Acute Flaccid paralysis (AFP) samples and contacts coming through the surveillance system from 9 regions and 2 city administrations.

The laboratory expanded its activity and established Environmental surveillance in three regions since 2017. The Laboratory maintained accreditation for the past 18 years and integrated other vaccine-preventable diseases laboratory detection such as measles, rubella, Rotavirus and influenza laboratory surveillance throughout the country.

After integrating the National Measles Laboratory which was founded in 2005, it expanded to sub-national measles laboratories in Amhara and SNNPR regions. The national and sub-national measles laboratories are accredited under the WHO to deliver on-time laboratory result for Public Health Emergency Management by processing more than 4000 samples from the case-based surveillance throughout the country.

The National Polio Laboratory and other vaccine-preventable diseases surveillance is under Public Health Emergency Management at EPHI and supported by the WHO EPI and surveillance team at the National and regional level. As a virology research team leader for the past ten years at EPHI, I have been serving as a senior researcher and licensed chief public health expert and mainly engaged with heading the National Polio and Measles Laboratory and other Viral Hemorrhagic Fever Laboratory services."

The laboratory technical guidance for COVID-19, laboratory reagent and kit provision, technical support, External Quality Assurance, laboratory capacity-building through training and supportive supervisions were the major support of WHO through the overall leadership of the WR Ethiopia Dr Boureima Hama SAMBO and the well-organized coordination of the Incident Manager Dr. Emmanuel Musa and the EPR Team Lead Dr. Aggrey Bategereza.

The success of the laboratory pillar was also dependent on the dedication and contribution of other COVID-19 response team pillars such as surveillance, point of entry, risk communication, case management, logistic and Infection prevention and control.