We gathered in the Hub Hotel in Addis Ababa on Saturday, September 23, together with institutional guests, partners, donors and local authorities to retrace a long-standing history of commitment and dedication.
Cuamm – Ethiopia 2023, Learning from the past, looking to the future is the first annual general meeting organized by Cuamm in the country, not only to share good practices and lessons learned but also to look forward and face present and future challenges that we have to address in order to continue promoting the right to health for all.
“The humanitarian situation in Ethiopia continues to be critical,” said Agostino Palese, Ambassador of Italy in Addis Ababa during the meeting. Supporting the Ethiopian health system is a priority for the Italian government and cooperation. I have personally visited several hospitals in the country and I am convinced that must act now. This is why we will continue to work, also with Cuamm, to meet the basic needs of the population and strengthen health facilities in the most fragile areas of the country.”
Many are the fragile areas in Ethiopia: from the northern region of Tigray, wrecked by a long war, to Oromia hardly hit by severe floods to Gambella bordering South Sudan where currently more than 933.000 refugees are accomodated in refugees camps, mainly coming from South Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia plus 4,38 millions of IDPs caused mainly by the Tigray war. CUAMM is working in these areas as in the rest of the country to address the basic needs of the population. Our staff presented the current interventions on the ground in the first session of the meeting which was dedicated to CUAMM’s approach, activities and good practices in Ethiopia. We therefore explored Maternal and child health, Early Child Development, the increasing global burden of NCDs, the Management of health facilities in humanitarian settings as the key role of mobile clinics in providing health assistance to the last mile.
Throughout the second session, we focused on the St. Luke Catholic Hospital in Wolisso. The hospital was built in 2000 together with a nursing and midwifery school in collaboration with the Ethiopian Catholic Church and the regional government of Oromia. CUAMM’s support has been continuous ever since. 837 students graduated since the opening of the school, number of assisted deliveries increased from around 400 in the first year (2001) to over 3,500 in 2022; OPD also increased from only 14,000 in 2001 to over 60,000 in 2022.
In 2019 the hospital was awarded the certificate of excellence from the Ethiopia Medical Association and today, despite the numerous difficulties, it continues to offer specialistic health services through psychiatric clinic, gynecological clinic, surgical clinic, orthopedic clinic, ophthalmic clinic and others.
«It is important to learn from the past and evaluate what was done. Over the years, CUAMM has been doing a lot in the health sector and Wolisso hospital is with any doubts a model of commitment. We have to continue cooperating with governments, benefactors and friends who share our same mission: to ensure the right to health to those who cannot acceed it» said Musie Ghebreghiorghis – Bishop of Emdeber diocese during his welcoming speech in which he called those who believe in the same idea to join us in support of Wolisso hospital. An appeal made also by father Dante Carraro who address the guests saying: «If we really want to change the future, it is important to put all our efforts, we must all play our part and then we must connect, create collaborations and work together».
«This event was a proof of team work and dedication. It has been for us an important moment to thank donors, authorities and partners we collaborated with over this 43 years in Ethiopia and who shared with us the same mission: to promote health for all» claimed Luisa Gatta, CUAMM Country Manager in Ethiopia.
