The Diplomat
Spain, Italy and the European Union will invest more than five million euros for public policies of the Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia in favor of medical specialization in this country.
The Joint European Initiative to support medical specialization in Ethiopia, a joint effort of the European Union, Spanish Cooperation and Italian Cooperation, was launched last May 16 at the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, with the participation of the Minister, Lia Tadesse; the Spanish Ambassador to Ethiopia, Manuel Salazar; the Ambassadors of the European Union, Italy, Czech Republic, Malta and Belgium and representatives of other EU Embassies, according to the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) in a press release.
The project, conceived under the Team Europe approach (which foresees the participation of European Union Member States), is part of European efforts to promote post-conflict rehabilitation and reconstruction in Ethiopia. The total contribution of the European Union, Italy and Spain exceeds five million euros.
Starting July 1, the initiative’s efforts will focus on strengthening eight medical specialties (pediatrics and child health, obstetrics and gynecology, traumatology and orthopedics, radiology, emergency and critical care, anesthesiology and intensive care, surgery and psychiatry) in eight university hospitals throughout the country (Adama, Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Debre Tabor, Gondar, Haramaya, Jimma and Wollo Dessie).
Activities in these hospitals, which together have a referral population of more than 77 million Ethiopians, will focus on training in the selected specialties and hospitals, both residents and senior physicians; rehabilitation of equipment and infrastructure in the selected hospitals; and improvement of managerial and clinical skills and other cross-cutting issues in these hospitals.
For two years, European and Ethiopian specialists will exchange knowledge and experience to strengthen specialized medicine in Ethiopia, following the guidelines of the Federal Ministry of Health. More than 100 health professionals are expected to participate in the initiative, which will contribute to furthering the objectives of the Health Sector Transformation Plan II.
