Last CAM Conducted in Addis Ababa

The Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG) conducted the last Catchment Area Meeting (CAM) of Expanding the Services of Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) Project at Churchill Hotel in Addis Ababa last Tuesday March 22, 2016. Invited on the meeting were a total of 46 people from the health bureau, the Pharmaceutical Fund and Supply Agency (PFSA), regional laboratory and PMTCT service providers at private health facilities. The CAM at Churchill Hotel was the continuation of a series of CAMs which have been conducted in Bahir Dar, Dessie, Dire Dawa, Hawassa, and Adama. The CAMs have been administered by ESOG’s staff of the PMTCT Project. The meetings were part of the phasing out activities of the PMTCT project and the process of handing the project over the regional health bureaus for further administration. After the government introduced the PMTCT services to the public sector, ESOG has been providing the same service to the private sector in the various regions of Ethiopia. Through ESOG’s PMTCT Project about 78 private facilities have been supported.

(Please read full report on the PMTCT project on our March newsletter.)

ESOG Conducting Catchment Area Meetings

The Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG) conducted a Catchment Area Meeting (CAM) at Papyrus Hotel, Bahir Dar, Amhara Regional State, on March 3, 2016. The CAM is part of the phase-out process of the Expanding the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT) in the Private Health Sector in Ethiopia Project that has been running in private facilities throughout the country for the last five years. In attendance were Addiszemen, Amhara Health Bureau (AHB) PMTCT Focal Person (FP); PMTCT FP & HR Manager from Burie St Giorgis Hospital; two participants from Gamby Teaching General Hospital; two participants from Marie Stopes International Mothers and Children Health (MCH) Center; one participant from Abrak Women Clinic; one participant from Amhara National Regional State (ANRS) Pharmaceutical Fund and Supply Agency (PFSA) Bahir Dar Hub; one participant from ANRS Bahir Dar Regional Laboratory (RRL) and three mentors from ESOG PMTCT Project.

Two presentations on Expanding PMTCT Service in Private Health Institutions in Ethiopia-Review and PMTCT five years (2011-2016) Facilities Performance Presentation by ESOG’s Physician Clinical Mentor and M&E Officer and preliminary discussions were part of the CAM. A total of 78 private health facilities, including four satellite facilities in the Harari Region have been supported through the project, according to one of the presentations.

“After the tea-break a plenary discussionco-chaired by Sr. Addiszemen, AHB PMTCT FP and Dr. Tesfaneh, a Physician mentor from ESOG, followedthe presentations,” reads the report by the mentor group from the Society. “Various issues on the PMTCT program implementation achievements, gaps and challenges, actions taken and the lessons learned were raised.”

The RRL representative appreciated the contribution of ESOG in maintaining good performance throughout the project period and reminded the participants to keep strong working relationship with the RHB, PFSA & RRL, according to the same report.

A series of CAMs have been underway in Dessie, Dire Dawa, Adama and Addis Ababa upon the same mission.