"Sub-Saharan Africa has 24% of the global disease burden, yet only 3% of the world's health care workers"
Through training and equipment, we work to improve health systems
Ongoing . . .
Expanding health services for women and girls
In a five-year partnership with the Government of Canada, CPAR has been working to expand and improve the sexual and reproductive health care available to thousands of women and girls in rural Ethiopia
(Project Name: Enhancing Sexual and Reproductive Health for Women and Adolescents in Ethiopia, or ESWA)
PROBLEM:
In rural areas of Ethiopia, the availability of health services for women and girls is sparse to non-existent. To combat sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), instigating behavioral change stands as a cornerstone, necessitating thorough sensitization and awareness campaigns.
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ACTION:
In this large, multi-year program, we're working with health centres and health posts in northern Ethiopia to improve the training of health workers, provide equipment for sexual and reproductive healthcare in their clinics, and focusing on making services more available and youth-friendly.
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By the end of November 2022, 56 health centres (24 in Amhara and 32 in Oromia) and their staff were trained and equipped to provide Family Planning, Obstetrical Care including pre- and post-natal care, Childbirth in Adolescence, and Gender-based Violence identification. Further, 185 health care personnel were trained to improve skills and gender-sensitive care in the 56 regional health centres. An additional 25 participants took part in train-the-trainer sessions ensuring that training remains constant through staff turnover, retirements and onboarding. With the assistance of Nursing students from Algonquin College in Ottawa, gender-sensitive materials were created for the instruction of how to respond to sexual and other forms of gender-based violence. Currently, 413 providers, accounting for 74% of the health workers in the project locations and nearing our project target of 85% of all health workers trained. The project has greatly progressed and met most of its goals, which include reducing the number of births among women under 18 and lowering the maternal mortality rate.
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EXTENDING OUR REACH:
With the success to date in the ESWA program, we're taking what we learned and applying it in one of CPAR's first ever urban projects. Project 302 will take place in 11 high schools in Addis Ababa and will adapt the peer educator successes to the urban environment. Work is in its early stages, but stay tuned for more news!
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READ MORE:
Our work continues as we expand outreach across northern Ethiopia. Read about other elements of this program in youth engagement and treatment and education to end Obstetric Fistula
Find out more about Project 302's additional programs focused on career training and nutrition.
Completed
Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies
Remote Ultrasound Capacity Building for Antenatal Access
When women lack prenatal care, childbirth can be dangerous
PROBLEM:
Too many women in rural Ethiopia go in to labour without knowledge of their due date, without prenatal care (or well under the WHO recommended four appointments) and without an understanding about how both can improve their chances of a safe delivery and a healthy baby.
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ACTION:
CPAR sought to improve the physical facilities and the training to providers in rural health centres.
With funding from the Fund for Innovation and Transformation (Government of Canada) and our donors, CPAR invested in ultrasound equipment and internet infrastructure and equipped remote health care centres with the materials to improve prenatal care.
We also trained 14 midwives and healthcare workers on how to use and interpret the findings, and recruited doctors in hospitals in Fitche and Addis Ababa to view the ultrasounds in real time and provide feedback. By the end of 2023 more than 6,000 mothers-to-be have received ultrasounds and the Zonal Health Authority has maintained the program. An estimated 93% of the population received messages about ANC in their community, and an estimated 95% were made aware that ultrasound was available as part of ANC. Nearly 20% of pregnant women accessed ANC with ultrasound, although this number may include women who travelled from outside the catchment area. A joint review of the program by academics in Canada and Ethiopia has been published in the Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare.
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INNOVATION:
Not only were the ultrasounds readily accepted - with some women walking for hours to get to clinic - but we piloted a program to extend the service to Saturday market days, making it easier for women to get care when they had already travelled to market.
Completed
COVID-19 Prevention in Tanzania, Malawi and Ethiopia
Stopping COVID-19 was Job One
PROBLEM:
As COVID-19 raged across the world, we were not alone in worrying about its potential impact in low-resource areas of the countries we serve.
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ACTION:
Utilizing our community connections and deep history in public health promotion, CPAR took to the roads, the airwaves and the health centres throughout Karatu and Bunda districts in northern Tanzania and on Ukerewe Island to get the information out to prevent spread. In just a short period we were able to post over 2,500 posters in public meeting places and give out 25,000 brochures, while broadcasting radio messages and demonstrating hand washing and encouraging physical distancing.
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READ:
About all of our mitigation efforts during the early, hectic days of the pandemic, including Malawi and Ethiopia
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Completed
Strengthening Health Systems at Fitche Hospital
Emergency centre gets extra help from a Canadian/Ethiopian collaboration
PROBLEM:
Over the last two decades, Ethiopia has decreased its maternal and child mortality rates, as well as its HIV and malaria infection and death rates. Despite all of these advances, major challenges remain. Ethiopia's tumultuous history of conflict, war, and famine over the past half century has had a significant impact on the health services available to the Ethiopian population.The emergency department is often an individual’s entry point into a hospital like Fitche.
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ACTION:
In 2016 we launched the Health Systems Strengthening at Fitche Hospital project. Fitche Hospital is a 102-bed zone hospital located approximately 125 km from Addis Ababa in the Fitche District of the North Shoa Zone of Oromia. This is one of the poorest regions in the world and has one of the highest newborn child mortality rates in the country. Fitche Hospital serves approximately 1.5 million people and is a referral center for 57 Health Centres and 297 Health Posts in North Shoa Zone. Resources (both personnel skills and medical equipment) in this hospital are markedly limited. CPAR’s Healthy Communities project goal was to improve Fitche Hospital’s ability to provide health services in Oromia region, with an emphasis on strengthening its emergency medicine provision. This was a people-centric project, focusing on knowledge transfer from Canadian medical expertise to the Fitche Hospital through a knowledge-sharing partnership between Canadian medical practitioners and the medical staff at the Fitche Hospital and the procurement of necessary medical equipment and supplies to the hospital.
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READ:
More about our work with Fitche to enhance prenatal care
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