JSI Representatives from Ethiopia Attend World Health Assembly

Wuleta Betamariam, JSI’s country representative for Ethiopia and project director for the Gates Foundation-funded Last Ten Kilometers 2020 project (L10K 2020), and Hibret Alemu Tilahun, chief of party of the USAID-funded Strengthening Ethiopia’s Urban Health Program (SEUHP), attended the 71st World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland in May.

Wuleta and Hibret joined the Ethiopian delegation, led by State Minister of Health Dr. Kebede Worku, at the invitation of the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH). They supported the session on primary health care and universal health coverage through community health workers, organized by the Governments of Ethiopia and Ecuador. The Ethiopian delegation shared lessons from Ethiopia’s community-based health program, with a focus on the Health Extension Program.

Drawing from L10K 2020’s work in rural areas and SEUHP’s work with urban populations, the JSI representatives contributed to the conversation on the FMOH’s efforts to provide high-quality community health care services throughout Ethiopia.

The session was one of the most well-received events at the WHA, attended by more than 20 ministers of health from Africa, Asia, and Latin America, and a high-level delegation of development partners including Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesues, director general of the World Health Organization.

The Ethiopian Permanent Mission to the UN expressed its thanks to all members of the Ethiopian delegation for their session, which generated positive feedback and quick outcomes in line with the mission’s goal to increase the attention given by governments to community-based services provided through community health workers. The week following the event a delegation from Burkina Faso traveled to Ethiopia to work with the International Institute of Primary Health Care, and five other African countries have made requests to the Minister of Health to arrange visits to learn about Ethiopia’s Health Extension Program.