Training in Obstetric and Surgical Care

Location: Tigray/ Axum

Situation:

Ethiopia is one of the countries with the lowest socio-economic and sanitary indicators in the world. The tensions with Eritrea, as well as the destabilisation of its boarder with Somalia caused by the conflict between the government and the rebel groups like ONLF, threaten the populations’ sanitary conditions. To add to that, there is an strong lack of competent medical personnel in rural areas (85% of the total population) which makes the provision of healthcare in that country (primary and surgery) even more complicated.

Activities:

The program aims to reduce  maternal and infant mortality with three main activities:
-    Capacity building through the transfer of knowledge;
-    Training complete surgical teams for the peripheral health centers;
-    Access to healthcare for the most disadvantaged groups, particularly access to general emergency surgery and to caesarian sections.

Outlook:

The training of teams by the Tigray trainers will continue for one year. A third training session began in February 2007 for nine months. The training of an Ethiopian trainer for the surgery program, due to start in March, will last for a year.

Project start date: October 2004

End date: December 2008