Hospital Project

SERIOUS HEALTH SHORTCOMINGS
At the start of the health project in 2009, the health situation in Ethiopia was very serious, especially in the maternal and child sectors. 8 children out of 100 died before reaching the age of five. It is estimated that 69% of maternal and postpartum deaths globally occur in Africa
(source: OMS), but there is no reliable data on Ethiopia. Infant mortality officially seems to have dropped, despite the fact that the north has faced more than two years of conflict and border closures. Many deaths could be prevented with adequate health care and easily accessible.

In Adwa there was a government hospital that offered limited services in precarious hygienic conditions (no medicines or medical devices were available, electricity was intermittent, the kitchen was wood-fired, laundry was washed by hand on the floor).

• In 2008, the Ethiopian authorities asked for help from Sister Laura Girotto and her other sisters (Salesians of Don Bosco FMA), who had been working there for 15 years offering education, instruction and financial assistance to families.
• The Daughters of Mary Help of Christians of the Kidane Mehret mission immediately took action. The appeal was launched to all the donors of the Amici di Adwa Association in Italy, who had already made the construction of the school possible in ten years.
• Angelo Dell’Acqua, a volunteer designer of the mission, drew the plans; the construction company Cherenet of Addis Ababa is carrying out the work. The agreement with the government authorities has been signed. Antonio Petrone, an Italian surveyor, has taken the reins of the project, moving to Adwa to monitor the construction work.
• Technical consultancy and training support are guaranteed by a group of doctors from Padua (Italy) from the A.S.P.O.S. association and by groups of ophthalmologists from the MAIS PLUS Onlus and AMOA associations.
• Since 2014, the order of the Sisters of St. Joseph B. Cottolengo has made an important contribution by sending two sisters, Sister Pauline, a nurse-midwife, and Sister Betty, a physiotherapist, to Adwa to work in the hospital and clinics since 2014.
• The Catholic University of Ethiopia will send its students to train in the future hospital in Adwa, which will be a Teaching Hospital where national and international doctors can work together.

The coronavirus pandemic and the war have significantly slowed down the construction site, the import of materials from Italy and the travel of technicians for the installation of the systems, but the project has never stopped.

In the war emergency (2020-2022), the number of beds was increased and the gynecology-obstetrics department was activated to respond to the great need for healthcare.

• Overall, the entire structure has been completed in the rough. The first wing is already complete with fixtures, systems, coverings, furnishings and equipment.
• In November 2018, the Ethiopian government authorized the start of health activities in the first wing of the new hospital in Adwa, recognizing it as a Health Center with 27 beds. Since March 2019, health activities in the first wing have been started.
• Since December 2019, the maternity ward, the surgical activity with hospitalization and the malnutrition program have been activated in an emergency. The accreditation as a General Hospital was recognized with an urgent nature, having remained the only active hospital in the area during the conflict.
• To date, we are collaborating with the Ministry of Health at the federal and regional levels to provide services that public hospitals are not yet able to offer, following the damage and thefts suffered by the occupying militias between 2020 and 2022.

The works are estimated to be completed within 1-2 years (2025-2026).

• Thanks to many private donors, a generous entrepreneur, foundations, Lions and Rotary clubs, and in particular to the financing through the 8×1000 CEI, it was possible to build and set up the first wing with a delivery room and operating room and prepare the second wing of the facility to reach a total of 170-200 beds.
• Since 2019, the Amici di Adwa association has obtained a contribution from the American foundation “The Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust”, guaranteeing financial coverage for the completion of the structural and plant works and the initial supply of the medical equipment necessary for the start-up of the departments: outpatient clinic, internal medicine, surgery, maternity and gynecology.
• Due to the civil war, the construction site was partially blocked for over two years. The costs of construction, raw materials, transportation, and replacement of damaged materials increased, making new funding necessary for completion. Given the fundamental role of Kidane Mehret in the emergency and post-emergency period, the italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, in collaboration with the UN agency-UNOPS, allocated funds for the completion of the hospital, outpatient clinic and administrative offices. Thanks to this important support, there will be financial coverage for the final costs of construction, completion and installation of the systems. In this way, we will be able to focus the energies of fundraising together with all of you friends on medical assistance to people, especially mothers and children.

For healthcare workers available to volunteer or apply as permanent staff:

• Read the minimum requirements on ASPOS website (eg: 2 years of experience)
• Send your CV to the ASPOS secretariat specifying the type of availability

After the civil war, collaboration with the Ethiopian regional and federal Ministry of Health is important and significant in order to make up for the lack of public services and collaborate constructively with state doctors who visit and operate at Kidane Mehret Hospital on a rotation basis.

Collaboration with Italian volunteer health workers is also essential to offer new services and improve existing ones.

The skills and potential of foreign professionals and collaboration with the Ethiopian Catholic University will also be able to guide the path to becoming a “Teaching Hospital” that will allow medical and nursing students to study and put their training into practice within the hospital departments. There are also open channels for physiotherapy courses, a specialty that is greatly lacking in the country.

Every contribution is precious to pay the salaries of local staff, purchase essential consumables, equip the new delivery rooms and support living expenses such as electricity, meals for patients and cleaning.

Thank you so much for the help you can give!

There is still a lot to do to equip the departments and train the staff: continue to give us your support and bring new friends closer.