Wada happy with Ethiopia, SA deal

The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) says a three-year partnership between the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) and the Ethiopian National Anti-Doping Organization (ETH-NADO) “has had significant benefits for the protection of clean sport in Africa.”

Under the terms of the agreement, which was facilitated and monitored by Wada, SAIDS provided support, guidance and expertise to ETH-NADO to help build its anti-doping capacity, insidethegames.biz website reported on Wednesday.

“The WADA says the partnership has led to improvements in the organisation and structure of ETH-NADO, as well as boosting its doping control programmes including urine and blood testing,” insidethegames.biz reported.

The website further said “progress has reportedly been made in intelligence and investigations, including whistle-blower provisions.”

“Education and information for athletes was also deemed to have improved, along with results management,” the report added. “WADA's partnership programme is crucial to strengthening the efficiency and effectiveness of NADOs worldwide by fostering a spirit of cooperation, collaboration and trust between nations,” Mekonnen Yidersal, ETH-NADO chief executive, was quoted as saying.

"It provides the opportunity to share knowledge and experience. Moreover, it brings NADOs together in one team, working together with the common aim of protecting clean sport. This partnership has been extremely beneficial to anti-doping in Ethiopia and I would like to thank our friends at SAIDS and WADA for their invaluable input and guidance."

The partnership is also claimed to be beneficial for SAIDS, in areas such as up-skilling staff and highlighting where the organisation's own programmes could be developed.

Wada said ETH-NADO have now committed to helping other developing NADOs, having been mentored by SAIDS.