Health
The Ejere region (population 100,000) has 4 health centres and 27 rural health posts. Each post is staffed by health extension workers (HEWs) – young women who have had nine months training – and each serves around 4000 people. In the health centres there are more facilities. A simple lab with trained lab technicians, a limited pharmacy with a pharmacist and a delivery suite with trained nurses and midwives. There are also administrative staff and one ambulance. There are, however, no doctors.
For Ethiopia has provided furniture and medical equipment to every health post in the region. Since 2005 this has included basic furniture, examination couches, medicine cabinets, stethoscopes, blood pressure gauges, infant scales, sterilising equipment and sustainable solar powered fridges.
The community asked us for refrigerators. In 2011 we piloted our first solar fridge in Beso. Installation and training was given to the clinic workers and a local electrician by Solarsense-UK. This proved such a success that 7 more were installed in 2012/13. Reaching the furthest health posts with cold storage has reduced vaccine wastage from over 33% to virtually zero.
More recent projects are concentrating on delivery suites in the Health Centres. Our current campaign, Women and Children First, is aimed at helping to reduce the maternal and infant mortality. Supplying light and running water is the first requirement!
The Ilu Aga clinic serves a population of over 7000. It has no power or running water. The lack of electricity means that immunisation campaigns have to take place within the limited time that insulated coolers can sustain the vaccines.
Access to Ilu Aga from Addis Alem involves a 1.5 hour 4×4 journey along bumpy tracks followed by a 30-45 minute hike over hills.
Latest Health News
Case Story – Solar Refrigerators
Case Story: Improving rural health care delivery through realizing access to pro poor energy facilities: “Solar Vaccine Storage Refrigerators" W/r Meskerem Kassay and Tsehay Hailu are the health extension works (HEWs) for a Health Post at small village named Basso...
Saturday Surgery with Sue & Naomi
Trustee Sue Thomas and Dr Naomi Gillingham are back from their visit to Ethiopia where they saw the installation of three more solar refrigerators and had a chance to give training to the health extension workers and nurses as well as evaluate past health projects and...
More solar refrigerators to clinics
Nigel Walker and Jenny Stanley Smith have today (25 February 2013) arrived in Ethiopia to install three more solar refrigerators. This will be Nigel's third trip out to Addis Alem having already installed four in rural health posts. Nigel said 'Its a real pleasure to...
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