Ethiopia is Africa’s second most populous country, with 90 million people. In recent years, Ethiopia has made health a priority and has built an ambitious health extension program, with tens of thousands of Health Extension Workers who now form the backbone of the health care system, serving people through the community health posts all over the country. Health extension workers deliver diagnosis, supervise treatment for TB, and facilitate advocacy and community mobilization. Ethiopia is one of the largest implementers of grants supported by the Global Fund, and has achieved significant results, reducing child mortality, expanding HIV prevention, treatment and care, and improving maternal health. However, Ethiopia continues to face serious health challenges. Nearly 800,000 people are estimated to be living with HIV and it is the second leading cause of death in the country. Ethiopia is the ninth-highest TB burden country in the world, is one of the 27 high multidrug-resistant TB burden countries, and annually records nearly 3 million cases of malaria.

AHO PRIORITIES FOR HEALTH DELIVERY PLAN IN ETHIOPIA

1. Consolidate the Unified Health System (UHS), strengthening managerial capacity in the three spheres of government and facilitating consensus-building on objectives and results through pacts between UHS managers (bipartite and tripartite), integrated planning and programming activities, and use of the integrated nature of the three levels of care to improve the equity, quality, and efficiency of services, and operationalize prevailing UHS standards.
2. Promote the functional integration of databases and information systems that support health decisions and policies, particularly those for epidemiological and managerial surveillance activities and programs, establishing remote electronic access services, the Virtual Health Library (VHL) and the Integrated Health Information Network (RIPSA).
3. Develop and implement environmental health and sanitation policies to reduce the disease and mortality burden and improve the health and well-being of the population.
4. Strengthen actions and programs to prevent, monitor, and control communicable diseases, particularly vaccine preventable diseases; STD/HIV; tuberculosis; leprosy; vector-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue, yellow fever, and zoonoses, especially, rabies; and food-borne diseases. Strengthen programs geared to reducing risk factors associated with noncommunicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity.
5. Promote human resource education and training programs based on the Family Health Strategy, and refine regulatory and management, based on the availability of information and the analytical capacity of human resources in health.
6. Make health promotion a national priority, which implies developing public policies that improve factors that constitute health determinants, strengthening inter-sectoral work and mobilizing sectoral and inter-sectoral resources for programs and activities at all levels of the State.
7. Strengthen the institutional capacity of the National Agency for Health Surveillance. Ensure a decentralised supply of basic and generic drugs, as well as safe blood and food hygiene. Promote the evaluation of applied technologies in health for rational use by level of care.
8. Strengthen the decentralization of health services by improving the managerial capacity of state health secretariats to technically and financially support the municipalities in the regionalization process, in keeping with operating standards for health care, in order to improve the quality of health services and make access to them more equitable. Develop and implement environmental health and sanitation policies to reduce the disease and mortality burden and improve the health and well-being of the population.
9. Promote inter-sectoral actions that improve health and the quality of life, with emphasis on basic sanitation and environmental protection, strengthening the institutional capacity of the Ministry of Health in environmental health. Undertake actions and programs to protect health workers and prepare for natural and technological disasters.
10. Promote education and training programs for human resources based on the Family Health Strategy, and refine regulatory and management processes based on the availability of information and the analytical capacity of human resources in health.

RESOURCES (USD)

AHO ETHIOPIA BUDGET 2020 (USD million)* based on 2017 pop 105 million World Bank

AHO estimates that it needs to spend at least USD100 per capita on health to meet the basic health needs of the people in Africa. This is too far below developed countries e.g. in England it is US$1,300 per capita (2017)