Supporting Rural Health Centres in Ethiopia

Sharing and Learning Event on the Strategies to tackle non-communicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa.

On the 29th of March 2023, THET held a Sharing and Learning Event that focused upon the Strategies to tackle non-communicable diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa. The event was well received with over 36 attendees from across Sub-Saharan Africa and the UK - including NGOs, Health Partnerships, representatives from Ministries of Health and members of NCD Alliances. The event was led by 4 speakers who specialised on the following topics:

How NCD alliances can drive the national NCD agenda (Case of the Zambia NCD Alliance) – Led by Prof. Fastone M.Goma
This session centred upon advocating for the formulation of national multi-sectoral NCD Strategic Plans, as well as the inclusion of key stakeholders during the development process of these plans. Prof Goma urged for the strengthening of accountability of governments, and their commitment to NCD care.

NCD integration into Communicable Disease projects - Hosted by Dr.Nakawuka Mina Ssali
This section focused on the integration of NCDS into HIV care. Dr Ssali spoke of the current prevalence of HIV in Uganda and stated that interventions for NCDs are rarely integrated in HIV care and treatment programmes. The talk highlighted the similarities in treating and controlling HIV and NCDs and emphasised that there should also be a further focus on the relationship between NCDs, communicable diseases and mental health.

NCDS and Digital Health; exploring digital solutions for better NCD management - Led by Dr. Meron Haile Beyene.
This session explored the Ethiopian Hypertension Control Initiative; with intervention strategies adapted from WHO’s HEARTs Technical guidance on primary healthcare. Dr Beyene highlighted the work being done in a total of 62 Healthcare Centres (HC) (52-HCs & 10 Hospitals) selected for intervention, across 6 regions. The session stressed on the importance of an updated information system for patient care and highlighted the advantages of applications like the Simple App. Dr Beyene expressed the benefits of healthcare workers (HCWs) receiving training on the use of the app, and how this has enhanced patient data collection.

Health worker knowledge, skill, and confidence development in NCD treatment through mentorship and supportive supervision – Hosted by THET’s Dr. Yoseph Mamo.
Dr. Yoseph spoke of the importance of mentoring in the decentralisation of healthcare services, and the way this ensures the sustainability of services. Dr. Yoseph used the example of nursing staff in Ethiopia, and how they have felt motivated and empowered through the development of their leadership and technical skills.

For us to continue sharing and learning, and discussions, THET has created a working group on the THET Pulse Partnerships platform. For more information, please use this link: https://pulsepartnerships.org/topics/36720/feed.

THET would like to thank all those who spoke at and attended the event, and our donors for making this work possible.  It is with your generosity and determined support that THET can explore better ways to manage NCDs on-the-ground and create spaces for open collaboration.

To tackle the high rates of NCDs in Ethiopia, THET has collaborated with the Ministry of Health, Health Poverty Action (HPA)/Health limited (HL), and Novartis Global Health to launch the Healthy Family (Tenama Beteseb) programme. The initiative seeks to decentralise healthcare in order to cater to those who may find health facilities too expensive, or too inaccessible. The programme wishes to increase access to services for beneficiaries through capacity building, developing human resources and decentralizing the screening, diagnosis, treatment and care of NCDs. The programme began with the aim to reach and screen 200,000 people, and enrol 15,000 of these in the care and treatment program.  

The Healthy Family project comprises of a total of 14 hospitals and 45 health centres;the 14 hospitals include 3 General Hospitals and 11 Primary Hospitals in 6 regions. Namely, Oromia, Amhara, Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP), South-Western Ethiopian Peoples (SWEP), Benishangul-Gumuz & Afar Regional States) and Addis Ababa city administration. The programme specifically tackles hypertension, diabetes, epilepsy and chronic respiratory diseases. By decentralising care in this way, we can take a community-centric approach towards healthcare, with a greater focus on engaging directly with those who may have difficulty accessing healthcare and thus may be neglecting it. We are excited to report that as of October 2022, a total of 289,910 individuals were screened at target health facility level for the four NCDs, out of which 16,948 were put on treatment, exceeding our target!  

As our operational areas in North Gondar and North Wollowere war fronts, health facilities have been damaged, looted and unable to deliver required basic services (including NCD care). We are happy to report that the situation in North Gondar has relatively improved and facilities have re-started their operations; however, North Wollo still needs support in terms of equipment, reconstruction, stocking the facilities with medicines and necessary infrastructure.   

Your generous contributions will assist us in tackling the reconstruction of health facilities and continuing our operations towards bettering NCD management in remote regions of Ethiopia. We are grateful for your unending support through such a turbulent year and look forward to reporting our ongoing efforts.