Our work in Ethiopia

AMREF community hero Mohammed HiqoEthiopia has some of the lowest health indicators in the world. Most problems stem from infectious diseases and malnourishment associated with poverty.

Such illnesses could be easily prevented. However, poor education, bad infrastructure, lack of access to safe water, bad sanitation and inadequate health care mean that in Ethiopia preventable illnesses too often prove fatal.

However, there are signs of improvement. Ethiopia is one of the few countries to have recognised the importance of community health workers, who are providing vital basic health care and education in rural areas.

Major health challenges

The Ethiopian health system is suffering from a human resource crisis. The World Health Organisation has warned that there are not enough doctors and health workers to care for the country’s 75 million people. Many trained health staff are also migrating overseas or leaving to work in the private sector.

The quality of health care in Ethiopia is undermined by weak referral systems and difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff. Health centres also suffer from regular shortages of medicines and laboratory equipment.

The rural nature of much of the population means that is it especially difficult to deliver health care to hard-to-reach groups such as women and children from ethnic minorities and nomadic tribes living far from health facilities, towns, or even roads.

Health problems like HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and water borne diseases are undermining the Ethiopian workforce, keeping people from earning and lowering productivity levels as a result.

AMREF's works in Afar focuses on malaria, one of the leading causes of death and illness in the regionAMREF is:

  • Training health workers among the nomadic pastoralist groups in South Omo and providing mobile health clinics along migratory routes.
  • Training specialist health workers in hospitals around the country.
  • Supporting women affected by HIV/AIDS in Kechene slum in Addis Ababa, by providing loans and business training. The project also promotes HIV prevention and reduces stigma attached to HIV/AIDS.
  • Reducing malaria in the remote region of Afar, through the distribution of 90,000 mosquito nets at household level, and community sessions using culturally-specific picture-based educational materials.
  • Reducing waterborne diseases in Kechene slum through the provision of clean water, showers and toilets.

Ethiopia - key health statistics

  • 85% of the population live in rural areas where it is more difficult to access health care
  • Although 92% of the population has potential access to health care only a third actually use the health service
  • 60% of health workers leave their job within a year, many abandoning the public sector for better paid posts in the private sector
  • Infant mortality levels are 109 for every 1000 live birth
  • Child mortality - deaths before the age of five- sits at 164 per 1,000 live births
  • Less than a quarter of the population have access to safe water

History of AMREF in Ethiopia

AMREF’s presence in Ethiopia goes back to the 1960s when its doctors first started visiting hospitals in the country. Throughout the 1970s AMREF provided training alongside Ethiopian medical colleges until the political situation deteriorated and it had to withdraw from the country.

In 1995, AMREF returned to Ethiopia with UNICEF to run projects on adolescent sexual health. It opened an office in the country in 1998 and four years later established a fully-fledged county programme.  

In recent years, AMREF’s work extended beyond the capital, Addis Ababa, and AMREF now employs 70 staff on 20 projects throughout the country.