A National Symposium on Maternal Death Surveillance and Response (MDSR) system was conducted at Capital Hotel and Spa on April 20-21, 2016. The symposium was organized by the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) in collaboration with World Health Organization/ Evidence for Action (WHO/E4A), Department for International Development Ethiopia (DFID-Ethiopia), UKAID, and the University of Aberdeen. The Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG) took the role of organizing the event.

The event started with a series of opening remarks by dignitaries including Dr. Ephrem Tekle, director of Maternal and Child Health at FMoH and Bobby Stansfield, acting head of Human Development Team at DFID-Ethiopia. Following was an award given to Prof. Wendy Graham for her active role in reproductive health issues in Ethiopia and presentations by the Professor herself and Dr. Ruth Lawley and Dr. Azmach Hadush from WHO.  

Attending the event were also representatives from the Regional Health Bureaus (RHBs), who presented their performances on MDSR, except for the Oromia and Afar regions who were not present during the two days event. The event did not complete without seeing presentations from RHBs on their action plans what they will do to improve their MDSR performances.