ETHIOPIA: United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has lauded a health extension program in Ethiopia that seeks to curb maternal mortality by training local women as community health workers

Record ID: 560591

  • Title: ETHIOPIA: United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has lauded a health extension program in Ethiopia that seeks to curb maternal mortality by training local women as community health workers
  • Date: 27th May 2011
  • Summary: HOLETA, ETHIOPIA (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF HEALTH EXTENSION WORKERS CHECKING BLOOD PRESSURE OF EXPECTANT WOMAN MEDICAL KIT ON THE GROUND VARIOUS OF HEALTH EXTENSION WORKER EXAMINING EXPECTANT MOTHER
  • Embargoed: 11th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ethiopia, Ethiopia
  • Country: Ethiopia
  • Topics: Health
  • Reuters ID: LVA52OPH1E0N5A8YWP9IUCRFXC73
  • Story Text: United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon has praised health initiatives in Ethiopia that are seeking to curb maternal mortality by training locals as community health extension workers.
    On a recent visit to Bahir Dar region, in north western Ethiopia, Ban said the programme could serve as a good example for other countries looking to improve health care.
    Health workers in Ethiopia are part of an ambitious programme to improve the country's healthcare by training local women to reach the vast population.
    "In Ethiopia, this is another good example how with the little investment they can save a lot of human lives. We have seen so many women and children are dying needlessly from preventable diseases. The first line life savers, they are health [extension] workers and we are very much grateful to those," said Ban.
    Ethiopia ranks one of the world's worst places for maternal and infant mortality. Over 85 percent of the population live in rural areas and access to doctors, treatment and medical advice is extremely thin on the ground.
    Ethiopia's health minister Tewadros Adhanom said maternal deaths have reduced by more than 50 percent, in part due to f the extention programme embarked on in 2003.
    "If I refer it back to 1990, where the MDG baseline starts, it was 1,040 deaths per 100,000 -- this is maternal deaths. Now we are according to a recent WHO estimate, it is 470 per 100,000. So the reduction is more than 55 percent in the last 20 years," he said.
    The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are eight goals set by members of the United Nations to be achieved by the year 2015, including eradicating extreme poverty, reducing child mortality rates, fighting disease epidemics and improving maternal health.
    Since the launch of the health initiative in Ethiopia then more than 30,000 rural practitioners have been trained to give advice on immunisation, contraception, nutrition and childbirth in a place where women often deliver without any medical help at all.
    "The last five years, the change has been really significant and this is because of the community based intervention health extension programme and that's what we believe, that primary health care, which will really help us and the best vehicle in achieving MDG goals, all three health related MDG goals," said Adhanom.
    Ethiopia is one of the largest beneficiaries of overseas aid, much of it for health and nutritional needs.
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