Southern Ethiopia - Gwent Health Link

The link started following a request from Dr Aberra A Gobezie, a local surgeon and Assistant Professor of Surgery in Dilla. He wanted help with filling gaps in skills training for health officer students in the new Dilla College of Health Sciences in Southern Ethiopia.

The college lacked training resources in all areas. The trainers lacked experience and confidence in teaching emergency and essential skills. A health officer student on graduating will be responsible for the management of emergencies at poorly resourced, remote health centres serving over 100,000 people. Learning only the theoretical aspect of managing emergencies is inadequate.

Following a visit by a team from Nevill Hall Hospital, the first Emergency Skills Workshop was conducted in 2000 for final year health officer students. This has become a regular programme since with specialists from UK traveling as faculty to work with local specialists to run these workshops.

Students at these workshops are trained in practical skills in essential and emergency skills in obstetrics, trauma, resuscitation, surgery, paediatrics and emergency medicine.

We organised a pilot skills update workshop in 2001 for graduate health officers in SNNPR region after needs assessment. This was a huge success resulting in the establishment of the first ever Continuing Medical Education (CME) programme for non-doctor health workers in Ethiopia in 2002.

Yearly workshops on emergency surgery, trauma, obstetrics and child care are held. We also provide support for health officers to be attached to their local hospitals to improve their clinical experience. The link has trained over 300 health officer students and 200 graduate health officers in these workshops since the start of these programmes.

The Ethiopian Government has recognised the success of our CME programme for health officers and has developed an MSc programme in Emergency Surgery and Obstetrics for health officers due to start in 2009.

The link has donated training mannequins, teaching equipment and instruments to the college of health sciences in Hawassa  and has setup a well-equipped skills laboratory. Participants at workshops use this skills laboratory to learn practical skills under the supervision of their local trainers.