Addis Ababa, 27th April 2012: Our programme in Ethiopia is delighted to have been awarded €13 million by the Dutch government for a project to improve the sexual and reproductive health of Ethiopian women. The project will focus on making a sustainable difference by strengthening the ability of the private sector to deliver services to under-served women across the country.
Use of modern contraception in Ethiopia remains low and contributes to high levels of both unplanned pregnancies and unsafe abortions. As a result, the rate of maternal death remains among one of the highest in the world. The government of Ethiopia, though, has set the achievement of MDG 5 as one of its five key strategic health targets.
With a large unmet need for contraception and an already overburdened public health system, the government has acknowledged that the involvement of the private sector will be crucial in reducing the number of Ethiopian women dying as a result of pregnancy. Yet, although nearly a quarter of Ethiopia’s doctors are working in the private sector, only 6% of family planning services are provided by these doctors.
We have been working for a number of years to help strengthen the private sector in Ethiopia and 8% of all private clinics in Ethiopia have already received training in providing sexual and reproductive healthcare through our BlueStar social franchise network.
This programme will allow us to vastly extend the BlueStar network to cover 25% of all private clinics in the country. These clinics (like all in the BlueStar network) will receive training, support to improve their premises and ongoing quality monitoring, ensuring that the impact of this programme will extend well beyond the official period for which it will run.
We would like to thank the Dutch government for their generous support in Ethiopia and across the globe. Without their support and that of our other major funding partners, we would not be able to make a positive impact on the lives of millions of women around the world each year.
