Responding to Ethiopia's health care challenges
Ethiopia is a country of geographic extremes, with 85 percent of
its population living on small farms throughout the country.
With this vast distribution of people, delivery of universal
health care in this African nation produces its own set of
challenges. Annette Bennett from the Hamlin College of Midwives at
Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital in Ethiopia reports on how the
hospital is responding to these challenges through midwifery
education.
The main casualties of
Ethiopia's lack of health care are women and children.
This landlocked nation on the Horn of Africa has one of the
highest maternal mortality rates in the world, with
approximately 678 women dying with every 100,000 births.
For every woman who dies, another 20 suffer devastating injuries
as a result of childbirth without adequate medical care.
The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, which is located in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia's capital, and was founded by Australian doctors
Reginald and Catherine Hamlin, has for 36 years been caring for
women with obstetric fistula.
This is an injury that occurs during labour when the baby's head
becomes stuck in the birth canal. The constant pressure of the
baby's head crushes the internal tissue of the mother, leaving her
with a hole in the wall of her bladder, vagina and sometimes rectum
as well, causing the women to leak bodily fluids
uncontrollably.
It is not hard to imagine in a country where water is very
scarce and families share one room to sleep that these women are
soon ostracised from their homes and their entire communities. They
are often abandoned by their husbands and unable to attend markets,
family gatherings and church or the mosque.
The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital
In 2007, the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital responded to the
challenges of health care in Ethiopia and opened the Hamlin College
of Midwives. This institution is training women from selected rural
areas across the nation to deliver top quality maternal health care
to rural communities.
The Hospital hopes to develop a comprehensive midwifery
community training model that can be replicated by the government
and other organisations concerned about improving maternal
health.
With only 1200 midwives currently working in Ethiopia, the
challenge to find well-qualified and experienced midwife educators
is huge.
The College recognises the need to strengthen the sector and
increase the number of local midwifery professionals. To do this,
an "injection" of expertise from outside Ethiopia to fill the gaps
in knowledge and experience in the midwifery sector was needed.
The Hospital receives many generous offers of short term
assistance from health professionals from around the world. To
achieve the College' goals it was vital that not only the right
people with the right skills to support our activities were
recruited, individuals that were prepared to provide long term
assistance and capable of working sensitively with locals
were required.
With this understanding, and as the need for capacity
dramatically increased, the College formed a partnership with
Australian Volunteers International (AVI) and AusAID to support its
human resource needs. As a result, AVI recently recruited Rosey
King, an experienced Midwife Educator from Ballarat, Victoria, to
join the training team at the College.
Having been screened and orientated to the vision of the College
and the broader issues surrounding maternal health in Ethiopia,
Rosey brings skills and passion that complement the integrity of
the mission of the Hamlin College of Midwives.
Rosey is not only teaching in areas where there is a knowledge
gap, she is also mentoring local staff to assist in making this
college a centre of excellence, and following in the footsteps of
the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital.
Annette Bennett is the Vice Dean at the Hamlin College of
Midwives at Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital, Ethiopia.
Learn more about the college at www.hamlinfistula.org/our-activities/midwifery-school.html