Project Title: Quality maternal health Service /ESOG with QHA /

Activities performed:

1. Conducted Mentorship activity on the selected primary hospitals
2. Conducted TOT for Basic Obstetrics Ultrasound Training
3. Conducted Basic Ultrasound training

 

Challenge:

• Shortage of budget due to inflation. The initial allocated budget is not much for the current price of rental care and mentor payment.
• Incomplete monthly report and not properly prepared hospitals
• Hospitals do not assign one or two selected mentors. They use a round to involve all gynecologists; this leads to a gap in the mentorship schedule and

Project title: Strengthening the capacity and improving quality of Reproductive Health and reducing stigma on safe abortion care providers’ project

Project period

August 1, 2021 to July 31, 2023

Funded by

David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Project budget:

Birr 14,822,234.59

 

Project Site –Regions: -Oromia and Amhara regions

Oromia Region: – Three Zones/

Facility: -6 hospitals and 60 health centers

Amhara Region: -Two Zones/North Shewa and North Wollo

Facility: – 6 hospitals and 40 health centers

Partner: –

Ministry of Health /MoH /

Amhara Regional Health Bureau

Oromia Regional Health Bureau

Zonal Health Departments and Woreda Health Office

Health facilities /Hospitals and Health Centers

David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Objective:

General:  The overall goal of the project is to strengthen the capacity and improve quality of reproductive health i.e. family planning and comprehensive abortion care through implementing evidence-based quality improvement anti stigma and advocacy interventions at primary health care units

Specific:

• Strengthen the capacity and quality improvement for RH i.e. FP and CAC at primary health care units through consolidating mentorship training
• Reduce stigma and discrimination on FP and safe abortion care providers by consolidating anti stigma interventions
• Enhance evidence-based advocacy to overcome emerging RH challenges and improve RH quality of services

Major activities accomplished:

1. Meeting conducted on catchment Mentorship

ESOG selected at least one obstetrician and gynecologist for each zone, and two emergency surgical officers and two BSC midwives were recruited. Five obstetricians and gynecologists, 20 Emergency Surgical Officers, and 20 Midwives from on-site and conducted a one-day meeting in Addis Ababa for a clear set understanding for cascading the program.

2. Conducted training for service providers on safe abortion service provision as far as permitted by Law/Comprehensive abortion care service

CAC training provided from January 2-14,2023 and February 12-25, 2023 in Adama and Debre Birhan for the Amhara region. and Oromia region respectively.  25 providers attended each round of training. The training included both theoretical and practical application to a safe abortion service.

3. SRH Advocacy training to social media and Mainstreaming Media Journalists

ESOG conducted SRH advocacy training on January 3, 2023, in Addis Ababa. Reporters and editors from the mainstream media, social media influencers and other media professionals attended the training.

4. SRH Advocacy by Social Media and Mainstreaming Media

ESOG has been transmitting a weekly program on National Radio for more than 10 years. The ESOG public telegram channel has been created with more than 417 subscribers and more than 50 content shared, and it has received over 6,000 views. 60 radio programs are transmitted on sexual and reproductive health and maternal health issues, for instance, family planning and comprehensive abortion care issues.

5. Review Meeting Conducted

ESOG together with zonal health departments, organized an annual zonal review meeting from August 13–14, 2023, in Chiro town of the Oromia region and an annual regional review meeting of the Amhara region in Bahir Dar from August 22–23, 2023.

6. Support the providers and facilities for the management of sexual assault by providing care for survivors of sexual violence training

Creating access for the delivery of GBV care through preparing health providers by using the standard MOH training package, for the provision of care for GBV survivors was provided to 30 health professionals in Dessie, Amhara region, from September 6–10, 2023.

7. Providing infection prevention and patient safety (IPPS) training

Infection Prevention and Patient Safety (IPPS) training was provided at Chiro General Hospital and Gelemso General Hospital from January 10–13, 2023, and January 14–16 2023, respectively. The trainings were given to Midwives, nurses, and catchment health center workers; a total of 60 participants attended the two-session training.

8 Provide training for health facility managers and administrative staffs on de-stigmatization of safe abortion services /VCAT/

ESOG provided VCAT training for all project health facility managers, MCH heads, and RMNCH officers in the Oromia region in three zones, and a total of 90 health workers were trained. The training was conducted from July 10 to 28, 2023 and in each zone, 30 participants participated in the training. This value clarification (VC) is the process of examining one’s basic values and reasoning for the purpose of understanding oneself and discovering what is important and meaningful.

9. Release position statements and policy statements on safe abortion issues

ESOG, together with other stakeholders, released two-time position statements and policy statements on guarding the low-safe abortion. The statements were posted on ESOG’s website, Facebook, and Twitter accounts, and were submitted by a letter to the issue to MOH, and also the impacts of the project, activities, lessons learned, and findings obtained from the project were presented at ESOG’s annual conference.

10 Conducted RH advocacy workshops to engage CSOs and women groups

ESOG together with the Consortium of Reproductive Health Associations (CORHA) organized a one-day advocacy workshop in Addis Ababa on July 5, 2023. National and international CSOs that work on reproductive health and woman associations’ communication officers attended the workshop, and they also formed an advocacy communication forum.

11. Conducted Cluster meeting with primary hospital with catchment health center

The project conducted cluster review meetings for mentorship learning circles in project-site hospitals. In one cluster there is one primary hospital with five health centers. Mentors presented their findings in the mentorship, including strengths and gaps in the service provision in each facility, and all health facilities presented their performance and quality project report.

12. Conducted joint integrated onsite supportive supervision

The project conducted supportive supervision together with the zonal health departments from September 25–30, 2023, in West Shewa, and June 10–20, 2023, in West Harerge in the Oromia region for project facilities

13. Supported to strengthen the link between youth service and SRH service; (Conducted orientation workshop meetings);

ESOG, with Zonal office organized a 2-day orientation workshop on selected West Shew Zone health facilities to support and strengthen the internal linkage of the youth friendly service clinic and SRH clinics. 40 participants from 20 health centers from youth friendly services and SRH clinic heads attended the workshop from July 15–16, 2023 in Holeta town

14. Conducted Providers Share Workshop to abortion providers

The Providers Share Workshop was conducted in Adama from July 9 to 15, 2023, it is 3-day workshop. The participants were from project site facilities and facilities out of the project sites. The project had a plan to actively provide a large number of CAC providers for all project facilities, including the Amhara region and TOT on PSW, but it did not do so due to conflict.

15. Working with MOH for providing technical and financial support

The project was directly supported by financial and technical support based on the MCH department’s request for the project period such as actively supporting the celebration of Safe Motherhood Month, the revised abortion technical guideline, the development of national SRH self-care guidelines, and supporting supervision on different sites. Generally, ESOG has been working together with MOH to access and improve SRH services in the country.

Challenges:

• The main challenge in the project period was conflict in the Amhara and Oromia regions, with the Oromia region in the first period and the Amhara region in the 1st and 2nd years of the project period, so more activities were performed in the Oromia region than in the Amhara region.
• COVID-19 had affected the program. Some activities were not completed on time particularly on first year project period, like mentorship
• There is a shortage of medical supplies, particularly abortion couches and FP commodities, gloves, and abortion equipment like forceps and speculums.
• Poor quality of data, particularly on CAC. It is not clearly indicated on the HMIS tool.
• Turnover of trained mentors (ESO and midwives) in some hospitals.
• The northern Ethiopia conflict had affected particularly North Wollo, i.e., the hospitals and health centers were destroyed.
• Not able to prepare PSW tool guide by customizing to Ethiopian context and translate into Amharic and Afan Oromo due to lack of consultant on this issue.
• Not able to post workshop follow up and impact assessment by using standard stigma measurement tools due to conflict to move to each facility from the center /the trainer /
• Not able to conduct RH rights advocacy workshop for women associations, religious leaders, community representatives on project site woredas /Hospital with health center cluster /

Lessons Learned:

• SRH issues are more critical in conflict situations, so it needs more effort to help conflict affected people.
• It has become apparent that there is a huge gap in the quality of RH service provisions, which requires additional effort and attention by engaging all stakeholders and making sure that the achievements gained from the mentorship program will keep momentum.
• Support and strengthen quality of service based on identified gaps, and the relationship created between a mentor and mentee is a key to continuous engagement and lasting change.
• Ongoing technical support and in-service training for all MNCH departments by trained mentors and supportive supervision are recommended to sustain the achievements made and improve problems that need critical attention.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning:

The project proposal, training reports, and activity reports are shared quarterly with both regional health bureau family health departments and zonal health departments. In      addition, project activities and performance are evaluated by the ESOG executive board on a               quarterly basis.

Project title: Changing the narrative about safe abortion in Ethiopia:  Destigmatizing SRHR Communications

Objectives:

General Objective: – The general objective of the project is to use storytelling and narrative change approaches to enhance existing and new advocacy work targeting emerging and reemerging hurdles on SRH and safe abortion, and to reduce stigma and discrimination against abortion providers by consolidating anti-stigma intervention

Specific Objectives:

• Build a more supportive environment for abortion and SRHR through engagement and network-building with ESOG members, with support from communication professionals and communications and social media platforms.
• Reduce abortion stigma and discrimination against safe abortion care providers by consolidating anti-stigma interventions in safe abortion services, and by increasing engagement with journalists and media managers for more positive coverage of abortion and SRHR in the media.

Partners: –

• Ministry of Health /MoH /
• Marie Stopes International
• Population Services International

Major activities accomplished

1The project proposal was appraised and an agreement signed with MOH

The project proposal, with details of project activities, implementation plans, and budget, was prepared as per Civil Society Organizations (CSO) legislation and budget allocation policy. The project proposal was then appraised by FMOH, and support letters were given to cascade the project activities.

2 Conducted orientation meetings and virtual training

Thirty influencers who are gynecologists were selected and they volunteered to share their testimony on abortion care. The project organized an orientation meeting and individual virtual training. The orientation meeting was provided for 13 health care professionals /Gynecologists/ in two rounds, on 1^st round 6 and 2^nd round 7 Gynecologists have participated in the filming of testimonials sharing their experiences with abortion care.

3 Produced story-telling videos by selected influencers (care providers)

After the orientation meeting, virtual training for each individual was provided for 13 health care professionals (gynecologists) in two rounds on 1^st round 6 and 2^nd round 7 Gynecologists for filming testimonials sharing their experiences with abortion care. The filming of 12 gynecologists and one senior midwife has been completed. 13 influencers had been participating in story-telling videos in two phases. On the 1^st phase 6 and the 2^nd phase 7, 6 females and 7 males with Christian and Muslim religious backgrounds have been participating in the production of story-telling videos.

 

4 Conducted film approval meeting

ESOG organized a film approval meeting after finalizing recording the influencers testimony about safe abortion. The aim of the meeting is for the influencer watching their video to confirm and provide approval for using the video for health provider training and advocacy among high officials.

5 Conducted RH advocacy meeting with   SRHR media forum group

ESOG and the Consortium of Reproductive Health Associations (CORHA) organized a one-day advocacy workshop in Addis Ababa on July 5, 2023. National and international CSOs that work on reproductive health and women’s associations’ communication officers attended the meeting, and they also formed an advocacy communication forum.

6 Provider Share Workshop /PSW/ to fight stigma against providers using Video

The Providers Share Workshop was conducted in Adama from December 9 to 11, 2023, as a pilot by using the video. ESOG previously provided the training without video from other safe abortion projects, but for this training, the influencer testimony recorded video was used. Strong feedback was obtained from the participants.

7 Conducted Safe Abortion and self-care advocacy workshop

ESOG and MOH had organized   SRH Advocacy Workshop for SRH communities. The participants were MOH high officials, international and local NGOs, professional associations, and medical and health teaching universities. MOH has led TWG, and ESOG was the coordinator

 

Challenges

• Some healthcare professionals experience cold feet and withdraw from the project after agreeing to participate, wasting filming time and impacting the overall schedule. Others need to delay their filming for legitimate reasons, which also impacts the schedule.
• Highly fear stigma and discrimination health providers, including the selected influencer, so they only provide permission using the video for teaching the health providers, not for public purposes.
• Lack of commitment by some participants from NGS during quarter media Forum meeting
• Highly social media anti-choice movement, it affected the health providers for providing service.
• Negative perceptions of the safe abortion service by some staff from MOH and NGOs
• Overlapping schedule with activity at MOH and other stock holders, so canceling meetings and workshops
• Postponed advocacy sensitization workshops at regional level on SRH rights due to an overlap in the schedule for the MOH.
• Shortage of fund for organizing more PSW by using the video

Lessons Learned

• SRH issues, particularly abortion, are more sensitive issues for preventing stigma; hence, it needs more effort to help care providers and to keep women right.

It has become apparent that there is a huge gap in the RH service provisions, which requires additional effort and attention by engaging all stakeholders

Project title: Strengthening Capacity for Grant Writing and Grants Management

Project period

October 6, 2021 to October 5, 2022

Funded by

David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Project budget:

Birr 2,375,767.40

 

Objectives:

General Objective: – The main objective of the capacity building activities is to create, enhance and develop constituent’s capacity at organization level to find grant, write and design, implement and supervise projects

Specific objectives:

1: Building the capacity of staff in writing for grants through training and practice

2: Improving the institutional experience of ESOG in writing for and accessing grants

 

Major activities accomplished:

 

• Grant Officer is hired starting from March 1, 2022
• Staff Training for Grant writing

The project sent five staff members for capacity-building training. The training was conducted in Mombasa, Kenya from April 11–15, 2022. The training was provided by In-depth Research Institute Ltd. The training on resource mobilization and proposal writing is expected to boost ESOG’s organizational capacity to write, seek grants for, and administer projects. The training covered topics such as the project theory of change, project designs, project activities outputs and matrix, monitoring and evaluation plans, important considerations in mobilizing resources, partners’ responsibilities, among others

• ESOG Board Member Training for Grant Writing

The project sent seven board members, the ESOG general manager, and one member for capacity-building training. The training was conducted in Ghana, Acara, from December 13-14, 2022. The training was provided by University of Ghana School of Public Health. The training on resource mobilization and proposal writing is expected to boost ESOG’s organizational capacity to write, seek grants for, and administer projects. The training covered topics such as the project theory of change, project designs, project activities outputs and matrix, monitoring and evaluation plans, important considerations in mobilizing resources, partners’ responsibilities, among others.

Project Management Training

The training was provided to Executive Board members, branch office focal persons, members and staff.

Project title: Impact of simulation training of External Aortic Compression (EXAC) and uterine massage on management of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH): A study at four teaching hospitals in Addis Ababa

 

Project period:

November 2022 – July 2023

 

Objective:

• to evaluate the impact of simulation training on the knowledge and practice of ExAC and uterine massage on healthcare providers dealing with maternal healthcare.

 

Major activities accomplished:

• Has provided trainings for expansion of existing knowledge on uterine massage and development of new knowledge on ExAC. It also allowed participants to practice the theories that were addressed in the digital presentation and increasing their self-assessed knowledge and ability to perform these maneuvers.
• The trainings were given in simulation rooms in each hospital. This was followed by dissemination of digital presentations and other information on appropriate PPH management via telegram groups periodically including webinars. This creates a platform for information and experiencing sharing among participants and an opportunity to share difficulties faced by participants in the area of training.

Participants and Other Collaborating Organizations      

• Apart from the primary investigators, multiple trainers from both Ethiopia and Norway were involved in the project. All trainers were selected based on their previous experience as trainers with ExAC AS in multiple countries and their work experience in obstetrics and gynecology clinical practice. Trainers from Ethiopia were selected based on leadership experience and involvement in maternal and child clinical care for at least 5 years, previous experience as continuous professional development trainers in reproductive, maternal and child health. In addition to these criteria, since the trainers or simulation dolls will be gifted to each hospital at the end of the project by ExAC AS, it was kept in mind that trainers should be able to continue regular trainings in the future for staff members and students and should hospitals’ finances allow, healthcare professionals from the hospitals’ catchment health centers as well.

Impacts or Contributions to the Field:

The simulation-based training was given to over 325 OBGYN residents, midwives and nurses working in the obstetrics and gynecology department. It consisted of a digital presentation and simulation training using the ExAC trainer. The primary training was on External Aortic Compression (ExAC) and uterine massage in the management of Post-Partum Hemorrhage (PPH). Since PPH is one of the major contributors for maternal mortality, this project wanted to assess the impact of a simulation-based training on these two maneuvers that are essential to reduce maternal morbidity and mortality. From the data collected at T1 and T2, we were able to assess the knowledge of participants before and directly after training. The data collected before training showed that PPH is commonly encountered by health care professionals in the four hospitals and while the knowledge on uterine massage was good in most participants, the knowledge on ExAC was very low. This was also reflected in the practice of these maneuvers, which showed that a majority reported that they have used uterine massage, only about a quarter of trainees had used external aortic compression before the training. After the training we saw that there was a rise in the knowledge of uterine massage, but we saw a drastic change in the knowledge regarding ExAC. This was equally reflected in the self-assessment of participants in knowledge and ability to perform these two maneuvers. We believe that analysis of data collected at T3 and T4, there will be an improvement in the knowledge and practice of these maneuvers in the trainees’ clinical practice.

Changes/Problems and Solutions:

• Changes in approach and reasons for change:
  • One of the issues that we faced at T3, in hospitals that we started this project in November, was rotation of trained staff initially assigned to the OBGYN department to other non-maternity care departments. These participants were subsequently excluded from T3 as this was used to assess their use of the maneuvers in their practice following the initial training. Since the rotations of hospital staff is annual, we do not anticipate this problem moving forward with the remaining participants.
  • Another adjustment is the shift of T4 phase of this project forward to July since the initial data collection in St Paul’s was delayed and lasted till early January,2023 due to the delay in the approval process. This delay has pushed the data collection and training of T3 to mid-May 2023 and subsequently T4 to end of June, early July.
  • Additional days were added to initially planned schedule for training in each hospital to accommodate the work shifts of participants to minimize disruptions in their regular daily work and successfully complete training. This has

 

• Actual or anticipated problems or delays and actions or plans to resolve them and a modified timeline, when appropriate.
  • No significant problems are anticipated. The issue of venues for evaluation and training will be secured from each hospital with the help of support letter from the director of research and technology transfer department at TASH-CHS. We have already identified key personnel to organize and schedule trainees to make sure daily activities in each department is not affected as done in previous sessions. This session will be conducted for three days, one day will be allocated for one group including data collection.

For the second and third sessions of this project we opted to use local trainers who have had experience in education and are in key position in clinical care of maternity and newborn care. This will provide encouragement of trainees to apply the knowledge gained from the training and report difficulties encountered during clinical practice during the management of PPH. We are considering using separate data collectors to collect data for those participants who have attended the first and second session of training and data collection but cannot be present for the last session.

Project title: Introducing heat-stable Carbetocin and Tranexamic acid into health facilities in Ethiopia: an implementation research protocol project

Objective of the project

General: – The overall the aim of the study assesses and facilitate the introduction of the 2017/2018 WHO PPH recommendations in health care facilities in sub-Saharan Africa, specifically aim to ensure that heat-stable Carbetocin (HSC) for PPH prevention and Tranexamic acid (TXA) for PPH treatment are integrated into routine care without any adverse consequences.

Specific: –

1. To Identify a feasible and scalable model for implementation of WHO PPH guidelines
2. TO Identify factors (facilitators and barriers; contextual or otherwise) that influence the successful introduction of and adherence to the PPH guidelines in clinical practice
3. To generate evidence to inform the development of an implementation strategy for the introduction and sustained national scale-up of HSC and TXA use.
4. Describe the effect of the introduction of new guidelines – including added value and potential negative effect of introducing heat-stable uterotonics and additional therapeutic agents

 

Project Site –Two Regions: – Amhara Regions and Addis Ababa

Amhara Region- Deberebirehan Specialize Hospital and Shewarobit Health     center at North Shewa Zone

Addis Ababa – St. Paul’s Specialized hospital and Millennium Medical                Collage and Selma Health center

Totally: – 4 Health facilities (2 CEmONC and 2 BEmONC)

Project period

February 20, 2022 and March 31, 2023.

Funded by:

Financial support from the Concept Foundation

Project budget

The total project budget for the 9 months is 40,000 dollars, or 2,000,000 ETB

Partner: –:

• Ministry of Health /MoH /
• Amhara Regional Health Bureau,
• Addis Ababa City Administration Health Bureau
• Health facilities /Hospitals and Health Centers
• Concept Foundation

Major activities accomplished

Project Report write up and Result dissemination

The report was written by the Concept Foundation and commented by the project PIs, who also submitted the draft to ESOG. The manuscript will be published and result will be disseminated in another phase.

 

Project title: Emergency Response to Conflict-Affected Areas to ensure continuity of reproductive health services and avail care for gender-based violence survivors, Northern Ethiopia

 

Project period:

 

01/04/2021-31/10/2022

Funded by:

CIRHT

Project budget:

Birr 21,079,522.27

Project site:

Tigray, Amhara and Afar Regions

Project Objectives:

The emergency response’s overarching goal has been to ensure the continuity of essential maternal health care services and that victims of GBV access comprehensive care in conflict-affected areas.

• Restore reproductive health services at health facilities in conflict-affected areas by donating essential medical equipment and supplies
• Deliver rehabilitative, clinical, and psychosocial care to GBV survivors or create access to the delivery of GBV care
• Engage the community in GBV awareness activities
• Strengthen community linkages by creating a referral mechanism for GBV continuity of care

Activities accomplished:

 

Training provision (creating access for delivery of GBV care through preparing health providers)

Training on GBV care provision was provided to 30 health professionals from Dessie, Amhara region from June 6-10, 2022. The health professionals were Obgyns, GPs, IESOs, clinical nurses, midwife nurses, psychiatric nurses/counselors, etc. The healthcare professionals who attended the training came from Dubti, Dessie, Woldia, Kombolcha, Hayk, Lalibela, Wereilu Sekota, and Wadla of the Amhara Regional State.

A team of trained providers on delivery of comprehensive GBV care is available in 15 facilities because of the two rounds of trainings.

Medical intervention and psychosocial support for GBV survivors was the theme of most of the topics addressed in the training. The training ensures that survivors obtain clinical care including contraception services, abortion care, STI screening, prophylaxis, and treatment including HIV.

Clinical care for GBV Survivors

Hospitals in Amhara and Afar regions have opened GBV Survivor Clinics to provide care for clients affected by GBV after receiving health response training for GBV survivors and obtaining the necessary registration and reporting materials. However, the war in the Tigray region persisted after ESOG provided training, distributed the necessary registration and reporting materials, and dedicated sites to open GBV service clinics. As a result, the program cannot be continued in the Tigray region. The ESOG management discussed and assessed the situation and decided to shift the program to Amhara and Afar regions. In addition, members of ESOG who reside in the conflict-affected areas of the two regions were communicated to provide clinical care for survivors of sexual violence. 

 

Mixed cases of sexual and physical violence are treated at one-stop centers, such as UVP, child abuse, and traumatic psychotic cases, which are referred to Amhara and Afar region hospitals for further treatment.  Males and females with age from 4 to 85 received care. The hospitals’ one-stop centers provided clinical and psych-social support to a total of more than 2000 clients.  Following clinical care, the hospitals refer them to nearby health centers for follow-up.

 

Supporting health facilities (restoration of health facilities through availing medical equipment)

ESOG had also been striving to relaunch maternity and reproductive health services in a few health stations as part of its support for medical institutions. Based on this, ESOG selected the medical institutions in the Amhara and Afar regional states. In the Fourth round, medical supplies and equipment worth approximately 1.4 million birrs were distributed. The assistance is intended to restart maternal and reproductive health services at hospitals and health centers. The assistance from ESOG helped the facilities completely resume their maternal health services. This support was provided in collaboration with Hope of Light. Because of the conflict, most facilities have had their medical equipment damaged or destroyed, making them unable to provide health services to the community. After assessing the level of damage and mobilizing the relevant partners for the most affected facilities, the health services were restarted, particularly maternal health services. ESOG is one of the key partners of MOH and provides support to maintain the maternal health services of one hospital and   twelve health centers in the Amhara region North Wollo 3, North Gondar 5 and Welkait Tsegede, Setit Humera zone 5 in the Amhara region. ESOG supported 34 health facilities in total including this round

Challenges: 

• Difficulties to address all the aggravated problems in the two regions with limited resources
• More facilities need more time to restore due to a shortage of resource
• Most health professionals are showing signs of burnout and frustration
• Security instability in the target areas

Lessons Learned:

• ESOG strives to improve the overall maternal health service status in general; hence, the initiative is a great entry point to serve and provide medical support for conflict-affected communities.
• It became clear that there is a huge gap in the maternal service provisions which requires additional effort and attention by engaging all stakeholders, particularly at emergency time
• It was a good example of successful collaboration between professional societies and partners working on the same goal and vision. Successful collaboration between ESOG and Hope of Light was very well demonstrated in this emergency time.

 

Project Title: Meri Leadership and Mentorship Program

Objective: To empower women and cultivate future women leaders

Project period: January 1, 2019- December 31, 2022

Funded by: Federal Ministry of Health

Sub grantee:

AWiB

Project budget:

Birr 6, 638, 337.00

Project site:

National

Objectives:

• Equip women in healthcare with the essential leadership skills
• Create action plans to overcome systemic barriers and grow their leadership skills
• Empower and promote increasing role of women in the healthcare system management
• Interactions with women role models to experience the varied ways woman practice leadership
• Build a network of women leaders in the healthcare system
• Increased skill in having constructive conversation where actions are consistent with their values and aspirations, especially in high stakes situations

 

 

Major activities accomplished:

The AWiB team successfully executed the Meri leadership and mentorship program. Customizing the already-existing curriculum to make it tailor-made for the participants and creating an ample and welcoming training environment by furnishing the training center in a cost-efficient and sustainable fashion.

There have been 3 launch parties at the beginning of each cohort to orient the prospective participants on what Meri is, what to expect from the program, and what’s expected from them. AWiB integrated the majority of its working cultures such as conscious leadership, accountability, and a sense of urgency into the Meri program.

Another powerful activity that was part of the program was the chance to include participants in the monthly networking events of AWiB and May Forum at the UNCC where more than five hundred people from diverse backgrounds came together. In these events, the girls got to develop their networking skills, networks, and culture of dialogue. These events provided the perfect platform to engage with a plethora of professionals and businesses. At the May forum, AWiB organized an Employers Bonanza for Meri girls, sending out invitations to companies including Habesha Breweries, Heineken, Unilever, MOENCO,  First  Consult, Noah Real Estate, and many more to come and get to know the Meri girls.

AWiB has been working relentlessly to secure jobs for Meri graduates and in a short time after graduation, From the 55 participants in the first and second cohorts, 90% of job placement has been achieved. The last cohort has full-time students that will graduate in 2023.

 

Challenges

 

• It was very challenging to have mentors commit for three Most of the women chosen for mentorship had various engagements and tight schedules. Some, although very enthusiastic about the program, had to travel a lot. Despite the challenges, ways to compensate were made, at times, Nahu S. Girma herself had to cover for the gaps in the mentorship.
• Unprecedented events happening in the city without prior notifications such as road closures bore challenges in undergoing the program smoothly within the time limit. Rather than being discouraged, AWiB saw this as an opportunity to teach participants about finding ways and going beyond external factors in the pursuit of a
• At the beginning of the first cohort, three participants couldn’t commit to staying for the entirety of the cohort and hence, dropped Swift measures were taken to include two qualified girls to be part of the program and proceeded with twenty-nine girls in total.
• The late start of the program pushed the majority of the second cohort to the graduation and summer break season, a time when participants go to their parents to This made commitment an issue and 4 students dropped out to finish the second cohort with 26 cohorts.
• Another challenge we encountered was the budget being over the intended amount as a result of:
  1. Unexpected networking platforms like the Meri Medrek had to be carried out to accommodate all the three-year meri graduates, and
  2. Exclusion of the 15% VAT in Dereja admin

Future Improvements and Mitigations

• Reach out to as many mentors as possible to have a backup
• To always be ready for unexpected changes in plans and schedules
• Making sure the budget forecast represents an up-to-date and VAT-inclusive estimate that leaves room for unexpected expenses

The grandiose conclusion at Meri Medrek, where a keynote speech was delivered by Billene Seyoum -the founder of the program and Head of the Press Secretariat with the Office of the Prime Minister- on the positive impacts of platforms as Meri and the need to keep them alive. AWiB is looking for a partner to sustain the cause of Meri and keep it moving forward to reach 90 more in a year, 180 in 2 and keep counting for years to come.

 

Project title:Clean C/S Project:

Project period:

01/10/2020- 30/06/2023

Funded by:

Lifebox Foundation, Ethiopia

Project budget:

Birr 2, 698, 545.00

Project site:

1. ALERT Specialized Hospital
2. Ras Desta Hospital
3. Adare General Hospital
4. Wolaita Sodo University Hospital
5. Yirgalem General Hospital
6. Werabe Comprehensive Specialized Hospital
7. Ambo University Referral Hospital
8. Welkite University Specialized Hospital
9. Dil Chora University Hospital

Objectives:

1. Improve adherence to ​perioperative infection prevention standards
2. Improve the ​quality and use of data collection ​to monitor surgical site infections
3. Build a successful surgical ​quality improvement program that emphasizes teamwork and promotes the use of the Surgical Safety Checklist

Major activities accomplished:

 

1. Clean CS study activities with ESOG showcased at the 30^th ESOG Annual Conference on February 21-22, 2022 and the Clean CS collaborative undertakings brochures, leaflets and other informative materials shared to participants at a stand exclusively reserved for Lifebox Inc, Ethiopia and a short slide presentation on the achievement given by the trial Consultant, Dr Mathias Asrat
2. The Lifebox Foundation Protocol Record Clean-CS Study formally registered to the Clinical Trials.gov. and the Pan African Clinical Trials Registry
3. Intraoperative, gynecology/obstetrics-maternity- ward and outpatient follow-up data elements collection conducted since August 16, 2021 in nine study hospitals. Assela hospital withdrew from the study due to unresolved Data Collectors payment issue and lack of the Team Lead commitment. Over 8700 data-Intraop, Ward & follow-up outpatient data- have been collected from the nine study hospitals until the end of the reporting period. Weekly data quality updates among the Clean CS team members and biweekly quality review meetings were conducted with the Data Collectors and Clinical Team Leads. Significant improvement in data completeness and consistency was observed following a sustained sessions of quality review feedback. However major outpatient data quality gap was observed and repeat data collection and verification work had to be done with additional budget and outsourced workforce
4. Mentoring and supportive visits to selected study hospitals by the Trial Consultant and data Quality Officer: Technical support provided in person by the trial consultant and quality officer in the aim to address the gaps identified in the data collection. Visits also took place in selected hospitals which already went through the intervention phase to assess the compliance of the hospitals to the six major pillars of safe surgical practice following the intervention phase in these sites

 

5. Hospitals clusters have been randomized for intervention phase in accordance to trial protocol: Process Mapping and Surgical Safety Checklist trainings provided to the data collectors, clinical team leads, medical directors, CEOs, OR managers, scrub nurses OR heads, sterilization unit heads, biomedical unit heads, quality improvement leads and anesthesia unit heads. Action plans of the hospitals developed according to the gaps identified from the baseline data analysis and process mapping findings. Series of virtual trainings: Process mapping, OR management, safe surgical instrument, IPC, WHO safety checklist trainings provided to data collectors, clinical team leads, quality officers and other stakeholders in the hospitals. Action plan for the intervention compliance developed with the participants and regular monitoring conducted
6. Advisory Group meetings: Three AG meetings conducted during the reporting period in March June and October 2022. Updates on the achievement of the data collection and the cluster randomization and intervention process including challenges encountered described to the group. The group provided its advice on various issues including engaging the hospital quality officers and admin staff in the intervention to increase ownership and sustainability.

Challenges:

1. Some Clean CS data collectors and clinical team leads lack of ownership of the study, engagement and commitment
2. The virtual implementation of research project: the data collection progress review, intervention phase etc.

Project title:Helping Others through Practical Cancer Education (HOPE)

Project Period: May 2021-December 2022

Funded by: AGO (German Gynecologic Oncology Society)

Objective:

Mentoring and training of young OBGYNs in subspeciality training in Gynecology Oncology.

Budget:

Birr 4,332,924.34

Project sites:

• Jimma University
• Bahir Dar University
• Haramaya University
• Hawassa University

Major activities accomplished:

HOPE project has been running starting from May, 2021. Initially, the program started at two universities; namely Bahir Dar and Haromaya universities.

Later the program has been started at Hawassa University since December 1, 2021.

At the fourth site MoU was signed and surgical instruments were transferred. However, the program didn’t start.

The two fellows from each university are engaged in teaching and service activities at their respective sites under a rotating supervisor as well as local attendants where attending gyn-oncologists available. They attended surgeries of oncologic cases, outpatient oncology referral clinics, screening clinics, conducted rounds, present seminars and twice monthly cases for multidisplinary tumor board.

Each site had a visit by a consultant for one week every month. Consultants were actively engaged in undertaking their responsibilities.  Fellows’ evaluations were made using a format.

Logbooks are submitted and evaluated.

Feedback was given to each fellows based on their logbook and evaluation by the visiting consultants.

 

Here is the lists and number of consultant travel to each sites January –December 2022.

1. Haromaya university ….. 8 travels
2. Bahirdar university …. 7 travels
3. Hawasa university … 7 travels.

The fellows were also operating on benign cases as well as an early cases with suspicious malignancy after consulting any one of the mentors. They also run screening clinics diagnose precancerous lesions and manage accordingly.

Each fellow has presented their seminars based on the schedule for a visiting consultant, and their seminars were evaluated using formats. Two seminars were presented at each site per month. Scientific discussions made and presentations evaluated.

The fellows also prepare and present cases for a virtual multidisplinary tumor board which include oncologists from Germany. Every two weeks two cases with diagnostic and management dilemma will be presented by the fellows from each sites and this significantly contribute for the knowledge transfer between different driplines and experts which will benefit the patients as well.

All visiting consultants evaluate the fellows using fellow evaluation format and submitted to program coordinator, ESOG and the partner before payment issued for their services.

Interim evaluation of the fellows was done, written communication is made with each fellow about strengths and weaknesses. Subsequent follow ups and progressive evaluations shall continue to be conducted.

At two sites (Bahirdar and Haromaya), the fellows have completed their first year training and examination was conducted at both sites. The fellows took both written and oral examination and successfully promoted to the next training years.

Challenges/Gaps identified

• Lack of case variety at both institutions
  • Proposed solution is to facilitate for rotation of the fellows to SPHMMC and AAU-CHS for better exposure with case mix. This would also help them learn about set up organization and perform some diagnostic procedure like colposcopy and hysteroscopy.
• Poor involvement of fellows at Haromaya and Hawassa in the screening service and preoperative patient evaluation
  • Email and phone communications were made with each fellow, and consultants in coming visits are informed to give due attention to these deficits and help the fellows improve.
• Still scarcity of OR Logistic and supply like variety of suturing material at Haromaya
  • Communication made with the admin to avail supplies with in the OR
• Consultancy payment delay for the visiting consultants.
  • Partner communicated and agreed for early payment transfer.

Project title:Introducing carbetocin in Ethiopia for the prevention of postpartum hemorrhage

Funded by:

WACI Health

Project budget:

Birr 997,305.21

Project period:

November 2020-December 2022

 Objectives:

• to have a consensus on the use of Carbetocin for the prophylaxis and management of postpartum hemorrhage
• to lay a foundation and bring stakeholders together for the way forward in incorporation of Carbetocin in the national management protocol of PPH in Ethiopia
• to identify areas that will be used as pilot implementation sites to generate local evidence to policy makers to include Carbetocin in the program medications as is oxytocin.

Major activities accomplished:

• Conducted virtual workshop

 

On June 7, 2022, the WACI Health and Concept Foundation organized a global virtual PPH workshop. At this virtual workshop, all members of the PPH-Ethiopian Technical Working Group, including the project coordinator and PI, attended. The project PI shared and presented the project’s status and activities, as well as Ethiopia’s experience in adopting and developing the new PPH prevention and management protocol. The project has been implemented in six African countries. Ethiopia had incorporated HSC into the national guidelines for active management of the third stage of labor in a setting where oxytocin is not available. The process of including HSC in the EML has already been established, and it is expected to be finalized in 2023. In addition to the standard care for women with PPH, TXA is also included in Ethiopia’s essential medical list. However, the heat-stable drug Carbitocin is not included in the essential medical list, and to perform this, the PI and PC had discussions with FMHCA, and FMOH MCHD had promised to circulate a letter for the RHB to use the drug in the health facility until the update of the EML.

 

• Conducted virtual meeting

On August 17, 2022, WACI Health organized a global virtual PPH project meeting. The project PIs and coordinators from six African countries met virtually to discuss the project, which had been implemented in six African countries. The project’s PI shared and presented the project’s status and activities,

• Conducted workshop for policymakers and stakeholders on prevention and management of PPH with emphasis on the use of HST and TXA

One of the main activities of the project is improving access to essential medicines to reduce PPH morbidity and mortality by introducing new drugs and developing the national guidelines for PPH management and prevention. The FIGO, ESOG, ICM, EMwA, and FMOH, along with Ethiopian technical groups, developed the new guideline and disseminated them to stockholders and partners to deliver the health facilities. Based on this, the project organized a one-day dissemination workshop for the PPH prevention and management guidelines with the stakeholders and the partner. The workshop focused on the policy dialogue and advocacy needed to facilitate the initiation of HSC utilization in the prevention and management of PPH across health facilities in Ethiopia. The workshop was conducted in Addis Ababa at the Elila International Hotel, and 50 participants from FMOH-MCH staff, the Safe Motherhood Technical Working Group, and national and international organization representatives participated in the workshop.

• Conducted an advocacy workshop to introduce the new drug and the PPH prevention and management guidelines.

One of the main activities of the project is the policy dialogue and advocacy plan to be employed by the Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG) to facilitate the initiation of HSC utilization in the prevention and management of PPH across health facilities in Ethiopia to reduce PPH morbidity and mortality. On October 31/2022, the project organized a one-day advocacy workshop after introducing new drugs and developing national guidelines for PPH prevention and management. and disseminated to stockholders and partners to implement them in their respective health facilities., The participants were from the Ministry of Health, Regional Health office, Medical Schools, selected Referral and General hospitals from Addis Ababa, regional hospitals, professional societies, and national and international NGOs. The workshop focuses on the policy dialogue and advocacy needed to facilitate the initiation of HSC utilization in the prevention and management of PPH across health facilities in Ethiopia. The workshop was conducted in Addis Ababa at Inter Luxury and 50 participants conducted

 

·       Advocacy by Social media and Other platform

After advocacy workshop, the project continued to create additional platforms for advocacy of the new PPH guideline and protocol through social media, newspapers, and radio programs, and also created a telegram group for advocating and disseminating the soft copy guideline. As a result, we are able to collect feedback and questions on the guideline and job aids from university and hospital personnel. Healthcare providers also expressed their concern about drug availability to implement the guideline to the full extent.

Challenge

• Schedule overlap and difficulty in finding pertinent people from the ministry delayed some of the activities.
• Delayed response from the technical working group
• The EML update schedule of the country was different from the project period, which made it difficult to access HSC.

• Due to a lack of training and the fact that the majority of professionals are unaware of the drugs (HSC and TXA), there is a reluctance to use the drugs.

Lessons Learned

• ESOG strives to improve the maternal health status of Ethiopia, particularly by working on the major driver of maternal mortality which is PPH related maternal death.
• It became apparently clear that there is a huge gap in the maternal service provisions which requires additional effort and attention by engaging all stakeholders.
• This project was a good example of successful collaboration between professional societies working on the same goal and vision.
• To provide quality service, providers and facility managers need to know about the new innovations and the role of professional societies in bringing evidence to practice is paramount

 

Project title:Congo Red Test – Reducing Preeclampsia Morbidity and Mortality through Clinical Protocols

Incorporating the Urine based Test Project

Objectives:

General Objective: – The purpose of the research project is to describe the prevalence of urine congophilia among patients presenting for antenatal care and/or rule-out of suspected preeclampsia in selected health facilities.

Specific Objectives:

• What is the prevalence of congophilia in populations presenting with suspicion of preeclampsia in referral centers in Ethiopia and Uganda?
• What is the prevalence of congophilia in populations presenting for routine antenatal care or with suspicion of preeclampsia in primary care centers in Ethiopia and Uganda?
• Is it feasible for health care staff in Ethiopia and Uganda to perform and interpret the Congo Red Test for identification of congophilia?

Project Site – Three Regions (Amhara Regions, Addis Ababa and Oromia Region)

Amhara Region- Deberebirehan Specialize Hospital and 2 health center @ North Shewa Zone

Addis Ababa–St. Paul’s Specialized hospital and Millennium Medical Collage and 2 health center,

Five MCH clinics

Yekatit 12 hospital and Medical college and 2 health center

Oromia region, Jimma referral hospital ,2 general hospitals and 2 health center

Totally: – 21 Health facilities

Project period

The period of the project is going to be between August 1, 2021 and April 30, 2023.

Funded by

 Financial support from Challenge Canada through the University of Illinois

Project budget

The total project budget is 131,991 dollars, or 6,599,550 ETB.

Partners: –   Project Partners:

• Ministry of Health /MoH /
• Amhara Regional Health Bureau
• Addis Ababa City Administration Health Bureau
• Oromia Regional Health Bureau
• Health facilities /Hospitals and Health Centers/
• 5 MCH Private clinics
• Chicago Illinoi university
• Challenge Canada

Major activities accomplished

• Prepared research project proposal and obtained Ethical clearance

The Cong Red Test research project proposal was prepared by a team from Chicago Illinoi University and Ethiopian PIs and Uganda PIs with the project coordinator The ethical clearance was obtained from the IRB offices of St. Paul Hospital and Millennium Medical College, Jimma University, Yekatit 12 hospital and medical college, and the National Ethical Board. Addis Ababa Health Bureau, Amhara Health Bureau, and Oromia Health Bureau all wrote letters of support for the research project.

• Conducted virtual meeting

The Cong RED test project, led by the University of Illinois at Chicago, organized weekly virtual meetings, which the PI, CO-PI, and project coordinator all attended. The meeting aimed to get an update on the project’s progress, prepare and review the assessment tool, and prepare the SOP for the project and challenges during data collection after the launch of the data collection.

• Posting a vacancy and Recruiting Data Collector

The project had a posting to find qualified and potential data gatherers. Based on this, a qualified and experienced data collector was selected by the research objective and criteria.

• Conducted training for data collectors, lab personnel, and site coordinators

The project organizes a 3-day training for data collators and a one-day training for lab personnel and site coordinator before conducting the data collection in Addis Ababa for Addis Ababa project sites at Elilili International Hotel and Jimma for Jimma University sites at Jimma University training center. 24 data collectors, 24 laboratory technicians, and 16 site coordinators participated in both sites’ training. The trainers were from Chicago-Illinois University, as were the project PIs and Advisers, as well as the Ethiopian site project PI and co-PIs. The main purpose of the training is to familiarize the participants with the study protocol and standard of precaution (SOP) and also introduce the content of the data collection tool and familiarize them with how to collect data at the facility level.

Challenges 

• Security problem East Amhara region /North Shewa, it also affected the project implementation in Amhara region North Wollo, i.e., the hospitals and health centers were destroyed.
• Delaying start up data collection due to FMHC authorization for Cong red test kit

Project title:Improving access to essential medicines to reduce PPH morbidity and mortality

Project period:

August 2021 to August 2022

Funded by: International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO)

objective: -The overall aim of the project is to facilitate adoption of updated WHO PPH Recommendations (2017 & 2018), at a country level into practice through dissemination of updated clinical guidelines and protocols.

Major activities accomplished:

 

• Conducted virtual meeting

 

The Improving Access to Essential Medicines to Reduce PPH Morbidity and Mortality Project is led by FIGO and has been conducted in six African countries. The FIGO was organized every two weeks via a virtual meeting, and the PI and project coordinator all attended. On The meeting also had the goal of updating the weekly performed activities and planning for rest activities from FIGO and ESOG.

• PPH job aid preparation and workshop on draft job aids

Job aids are simple, clear instructions on how to do something at work. They can include cheat sheets, memory joggers, one-pagers, performance support tools, direction lists, and much more. Essentially, anything designed to reduce avoidable mistakes at work can be considered a job aid. Based on this, the project was proposed for making the PPH job aid, so the project was provided to the consultant for making a job aid, and the consultant, Summit, provided the draft of the job for comment. Therefore, ESOG and FIGO organized a virtual PPH workshop on June 2, 2022. In this virtual workshop led jointly by FIGO, ESOG, and EMwA More than 10 EWG members attended the workshop. and job aid had been presented to the consultant. At the end of this meeting, comments and input were provided to the consultant.

·       Summit and approved the Final PPH Guideline.

One of the main activities of the project is improving access to essential medicines to reduce PPH morbidity and mortality by introducing new drugs and developing the national guidelines for PPH management and prevention. The FIGO, ESOG, ICM, EMAw, and FMOH, with Ethiopian technical groups, had developed the guidelines for the next year and conducted face-to-face and virtual conference meetings to collect and receive comments for input into the guidelines. After multiple reviews, the FMOH also reviewed and approved them for publication. Currently, the guidelines are in the process of publication.

 

• Conducted Dissemination of PPH prevention and management guideline Workshop

 

One of the main activities of the project is improving access to essential medicines to reduce PPH morbidity and mortality by introducing new drugs and developing the national guidelines for PPH management and prevention. The FIGO, ESOG, ICM, EMAw, and FMOH, along with Ethiopian technical groups, developed the new guidelines and disseminated them to stockholders and partners to deliver the health facilities. Based on this, the project organized a one-day dissemination workshop for the PPH prevention and management guidelines with the stakeholders and the partner. The workshop focuses on the policy dialogue and advocacy needed to facilitate the initiation of HSC utilization in the prevention and management of PPH across health facilities in Ethiopia. The workshop was conducted in Addis Ababa at the Elila International Hotel, and 50 participants from FMOH-MCH staff, the Safe Motherhood Technical Working Group, and national and international organization representatives participated in the workshop.

 

.

·       Collect information/data on national clinical practice after dissemination of tools

After the dissemination workshop, the project was to create different platforms for advocacy of the new PPH guideline and protocol by social media, newspapers, and radio programs, and also create a telegram group for advocating and disseminating the soft copy guideline. As a result, we gathered information from university and hospital personnel, all of whom agreed with the guidelines and protocol. However, most of them are concerned about drug availability.

Challenges 

• Schedule overlap with pertinent people from the Ministry delayed the activities.
• Delay of response from Technical working group
• Because HSC is not on the Essential Medical List (EML), it is difficult to locate.

• Due to a lack of training and the fact that the majority of professionals are unaware of the drugs, there is a reluctance to use the drugs.

Lessons Learned

• ESOG strives to improve the overall maternal health status in general, and management of PPH in particular and hence the initiative is a great entry point.
• It became apparently clear that there is a huge gap in the maternal service provisions which requires additional effort and attention by engaging all stakeholders
• This project was a good example of successful collaboration between professional societies working on the same goal and vision. Successful collaboration between ESOG and EMwA was very well demonstrated in this project.

 

Project Title: USAID Transform Health in Developing Regions Project

Clinical mentorship of CEmONC services:

Objectives: to equip health care providers with the clinical knowledge, skills and attitudes to achieve competency in provision of quality of care and strengthen the capacity of health care system to improve service delivery particularly CEmONC services

Funded by: Project Hope

Project sites: 15 hospitals in Gambella, Benishangul Gumuz, Afar and Somali regions

Project period: September 19, 2019- November 31, 2020

Activities accomplished:

– Service agreement signed with Project Hope

– Sensitization workshop was conducted.

– Clinical Mentorship training was given

– Mentorship conducted

Project title:PMA-Ethiopia Project

PMA-Ethiopia is a survey project designed to generate both cross-sectional and longitudinal data on a variety of reproductive, maternal, and newborn health indicators that can inform both national and regional governments. The project is aimed at conducting assessment of the Global Gag Rule & U.S. Funding Cuts on Sexual & Reproductive Health

Objective: to measure various reproductive health indicators through mobile phone assisted surveys in a national sample of 205 enumeration areas across selected regions in the country. The initiative uses mobile technology to monitor key family planning indicators that is being used for timely evidence-based decision making

Project period: January 1, 2020- November 30, 2021

Funded by: support from the Gates Institute of the Johns Hopkins University collaborating with the Guttmacher Institute and School of Public Health at Addis Ababa University, and Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia to implement the Performance Monitoring for Action (PMA/Ethiopia) GGR follow-up survey

Activities accomplished:

–  Conducted a GGR follow-up survey focusing on women who consented to participate in this follow-up survey during the PMA2020 round 6 survey

Project Title: Strengthening the capacity of public health facilities to improve quality of reproductive health /FP and CAC/ and reducing stigma on safe abortion care services project

Project period: February 1, 2019 – July 31, 2021

Funded by: The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Project sites: Arsi, West Shewa and West Hararge zones in Oromia region and North Shewa and north Wollo zones in Amhara region

Objectives: Conduct low dose and high frequency FP and CAC mentorship at primary hospitals and health center clusters through task shifting mentorship to ESO, strengthen quality improvment program in RH (FP and CAC) at primary hospitals and health centers and reduce stigma on abortion care providers

Activities accomplished:

– Project approval is obtained from Ministry of Health

– Project sensitization workshop conducted

– Quality improvement training conducted

– CAC training conducted

– Mentorship training provided to mentors

PPEs were purchased and distributed to project sites in the effort to prevent Covid-19

Project title: Strengthening of Laparoscopic and Hysteroscopic Surgical Services and skills training at Public University Hospitals in Ethiopia:

Funded by: Federal Ministry of Health

Project sites:

Place	Hospital
Adama university	Adama Refferal Hospital (ARH)
Asela University	Assela Refferal Hospital (ARH)
Bahir dar Univesity	Bahir Dar Refferal Hospital (BDRH)
Debretabor University	Debretabor Refferal Hospital (DTRH)
Haramaya University	Harrar Hiwot Fana Referal Hospital (H-HFRH)
Hawassa University	Hawassa Referal Hospital (HRH)
Jimma University	Jimma University Hospital (JUH)
Sodo University	Sodo Referral Hospital (SRH)
Wollo University	Desie Referral Hospital (DRH)

Training program goal: To rollout/strengthen gynecologic Laparoscopic and hysteroscopy services and training particularly laparoscopic bilateral tubal ligation in Universities with postgraduate OB-GYN programs in the country.

General objective: To produce competent laparoscopy/hysteroscopy surgical team that can provide sustainable gynecologic laparoscopic & hysteroscopic services, and training at target facilities with emphasis on laparoscopic bilateral tubal ligation.

Specific Objectives/targets:

• To train three ob-gyn specialists per site from respective teaching hospitals (30 in total).
• To train at least three scrub nurses in each target hospitals.
• To do follow up training at each site to arrive at least level II level of expertise of each trainee.
• To do follow up visit to ensure continuity of the service for at least one month after the end   of the project on demand basis of each site

Major activities conducted:

• Contacted target facilities and procured glutaraldehyde for the laparoscopic and hysteroscopic procedures.
• Identified and contacted the appropriate candidates for the training from each target facility and ensure their commitment.
• Conducted 18 rounds of onsite skills training for one week at 9 hospitals.

Project title:Catchment Based Clinical Mentorship Project in Selected hospitals in Amhara and Oromia regions

Funded by: Ministry of Health

Project sites: Amhara region- North Wollo and North Shewa zones in two hospitals and six primary hospitals

Oromia region- Arsi and West Shewa zones in two general hospials an six primary hospitals

Objective:To improve quality on health care service provision through strengthening the capacity and improving the quality of the health care service delivery

Major activities accomplished:

– Conducted project orientation meeting

– Established project mentorship and technical support team

– Conducted project sensitization workshop

– Conducted catchment based clinical mentorship skill training for mentors

– Provided three round technical support mentorship for RMNCH services

– Conducted regional review meetings

 

Project title:USAID Transform Health in Developing Regions Project:

 Facility assessment of CEmONC services in 15 health facilities of developing regional states in Ethiopia:

 Objective: To assess the capacity and rediness of hospitals to provide comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care (CEmONC) services in the project   implementation woredas

Funded by: Project Hope

Project sites: 15 hospitals in Gambella, Benishangul Gumuz, Afar and Somali regions

Project period: February 1, 2019 to March 31, 2019

Activities accomplished:

– Assessed the capacity and readiness of hospitals in the project implementation woredas to provide CEmONC services and its nine signal functions focusing on strengths and gaps

– Assessed the competency of service providers to provide CEmONC services

– Provided a set of long and short term recommendations for each facility for improvement pertaining to areas of human resources, equipment and supplies and signal functions

Project title:Implementing quality improvement in reproductive health (Family Planning and Comprehensive Abortion Care) in selected hospitals and health centers of Amhara and Oromia regions and de-stigmatization of safe abortion among health care workers in Ethiopia:

Project period: 01/10/2016 to 31/07/2019

Funded by: The David and Lucile Packard Foundation

Project sites: Arsi, West Shewa and West Hararge zones in Oromia region and North Shewa and north Wollo zones in Amhara region

Objective: To implement the integrated QI strategy in reproductive health among 60 health facilities in Amhara and Oromia Regions and de-stigmatization of safe abortion care among service providers

Major activities accomplished:

– Conducted project launching workshop

– Established project mentorship and technical support team

– Conducted facility baseline assessment

– Conducted quality improvement and mentorship skill training for project technical support team

– Conducted quality improvement (QI) training for FP and CAC providers

– Provided two-round technical support mentorship for quality improvement on FP and CAC services

– Conducted a research on “Health providers’ attitude and perception towards safe abortion service at selected public health facilities in Oromia and Amhara regions and Addis Ababa

– Conducted training of service providers on safe abortion service provision as far as permitted by law /comprehensive abortion care services/ for health providers

– Conducted two rounds of cluster review meetings /quality learning circle/

– Conducted training on value clarification and attitude transformation about comprehensive safe abortion care service for facility managers and MCH heads.

– Conducted supportive supervision

– Provided MVA kits

– Conducted project endline evaluation

 

Project title:Enhancing Medical Education and Residency Training in Obstetrics and Gynecology in Ethiopia:

1. ESOG-ACOG-CIRHT Collaborative Project:

The ESOG-ACOG-CIRHT Collaborative project has come a long way and achieved a great deal since it was launched in June 2016 (It went operational in September 2016). The project which was initially structured with four interrelated thematic areas i.e. Residency program, CME, Journal and Examination & Certification has later on expanded its thematic areas with two thematic areas namely Leadership Development, Medical Ethics and two cross cutting areas i.e. IT development & Program Communication expanding the project to eight thematic areas.
Accordingly, the project has made a long stride in enhancing the ob-gyn residency programs at the twelve universities through implementing the major thematic areas activities. It has worked relentlessly in improving the ob-gyn residency training programs quality through system strengthening and building the capacity of faculty and ESOG members at large. The project has also had a significant input in upgrading the reproductive health journal in quantity and quality and has also played a leading role in providing CME course to its members. The first phase of the project ended on September 30, 2017.

Achievements:

Residency program:
Situational analysis
Launching of the harmonized curriculum

Monitoring and assessment of the harmonized curriculum implementation-pending report

Residency Review Committee (RRC) establishment initiated-to be finalized  and be operational

Pedagogy training to young faculty and senior residents

Program directors’ school

Residents’ procedure electronic logbook application

CME:
Situational analysis
CME aspects training to ESOG members

CME course provisions-Standalone & ESOG AC preconference CME courses

ESOG CPD guideline development
Examination & Certification:
Situational analysis

Exam item writing training to faculty

Exam blueprint development/banking training to faculty

National Residents’ in Training Exam provision-precursor of a certification exam in the long run

Psychometric analysis of the examination
Journal:
Manuscript writing and research training

Increased article number and journal volume

launching of a website

Leadership:
Leadership development training to responsible in the ob-gyn specialty training program/department
Medical ethics:
Code of ethics document development

Training on medical ethics and medico-legal issues handling
Program Communication:
Communication Strategic plan
IT development:
CME live streaming sessions via bluejeans

1. ESOG – CIRHT Collaborative Project:

Having the same objectives and thematic areas as the phase I, the project has achieved the following:-

Residency program: 

Monitoring and assessment of the harmonized curriculum implementation-pending report

Residency Review Committee (RRC) establishment initiated-to be finalized  and be operational

Pedagogy training to young faculty and senior residents

Program directors’ school

Residents’ procedure electronic logbook application

CME:
CME course provisions-Standalone & ESOG AC preconference CME courses

Obtained accreditation as CPD Provider
Examination & Certification:
Exam item writing training to faculty

Exam blueprint development/banking training to faculty

National Residents’ in Training Exam provision

Journal:
Manuscript writing training

Publishing EJRH four times per year

Research ethics training

Leadership:
Leadership development training to responsible in the ob-gyn specialty training program/department
Medical ethics:
Orientation on code of ethics for residents

Code of ethics is published and distributed
Program Communication:
Lanchina Lante program
IT development:
CME live streaming sessions via bluejeans

Project title:Reproductive Health Innovation Fund (RIF):

Project Period – August 1, 2016 – June 20, 2018

Administered by: The Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG) in collaboration with the Ethiopian Medical Association (EMA)

Project Site: Afar Regional State, Zone 2, 8 woredas

Funded by: The Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH)

Programme Outputs and Accomplishments

Output 1: Increased uptake of culturally acceptable and appropriate RMNH Services for women and youth in program regions

• Supported and strengthened integrated outreach health services to ensure access to RMNH services at local community level
• Constructed culturally acceptable maternity waiting homes
• Conducted RMNH sensitization workshop for TBAs and for FIEMA groups and religious/clan leaders and traditional healers
• Provided capacity building (FP/RH Training)

Output 2: Improved community attitudes to RMNH needs of women and youth

Output 3: Women and girls empowered and confident to make healthy RMNH choices and access

• Provided orientation training on National Gender Mainstreaming Manual
• Gender Mainstreaming Manual translated & validated
• Panel discussion conducted on gender equality and preventing Violence Against Women and Girls
• The translated gender mainstreaming manual was traslated in Afar language

Output 4: Enhanced accountability and responsiveness of service providers to communities and women

• CRC Training conducted
• Orientation Training was given on Social Accountability & Responsiveness for Health Facility Management Boards
• Wooden suggestion boxes were made available at all health centres
• Ensured access to availability of water in the health centres

Project title:Accelerating change for the reproductive health wellbeing of women and girls:

Project period: August 26, 2016 – March 31, 2017

Funded by: Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)

Project location: countrywide

Objective: Improving access to clinical management of FGM/C complications and strengthening community awareness of FGM and its complications

Major activities accomplished:

– A consultative workshop was conducted on FGM attended by House of Representatives of FDRE, FMOH, RHBs, FBOs, professional associations and Deputy Director for Mission of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Ethiopia.

– IEC/BCC activities were carried out. Five 30 minutes long radio interviews were aired on Ethiopian Radio on ESOG’s weekly radio show ‘Lanchina Lante’. Posters were prepared on complications of FGM/C

– Three rounds of trainings on prevention and management of FGM/C and its complications were conducted using the national curriculum developed by FMOH.

 

Project title:Expanding PMTCT Services in Private Health Institutions in Ethiopia Project:

Administered by: ESOG, Addis Ababa Regional Health Bureau, Ethiopian Public Health Association, John Hopkins University and private health facilities

Launched in: 2007/8, ended in October 2016

Funded by: US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in accordance with the ESOG-CDC Cooperative Agreement.

Started under: COP2010, ESOG became a direct CDC grantee and in 2011

In Collaboration with: Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), Regional Health Bureaus (RHBs), HAPCO, PFSA, partner governmental & non-governmental organizations in the country and private health institutions.

Project Sites: The number of target facilities supported by the project and providing the standard PMTCT services based on the Option B+ approach is 78 in seven regions of the country. These regions are Addis Ababa, Amhara, Oromia, SNNPR, Dire Dawa, Harari and Somali regions.

Objective:  To contribute to the reduction of HIV transmission with extensive training and promoting wide application of the recommended PMTCT intervention strategies in the private health sector which increasingly are becoming important allies in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Major Activities Accomplished: 

• Baseline assessment
• Ensured adequate and timely availability of HIV rapid kits, ARV for PMTCT and DBS sample collection kits.
• Joint (ESOG and RHBs) supportive supervisions and catchment area review meetings conducted in all target regions biannually.
• Basic PMTCT Training, DBS training and update training on option B+ of health care providers conducted to address the dynamics of trained professional in the private facilities
• Conducted TOT training on PMTCT in collaboration with FMOH and WHO country office to facilitate the scale up PMTCT and to rollout the revised PMTCT guideline.
• ToT on mother baby pair cohort follow up and continuous quality improvement (CQI) approach was provided for 56 staff health providers from project supported facilities in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Health. The trainings were given to strengthen option B+ PMTCT service data management system and to improve quality of PMTCT service. Mother baby pair cohort follow up registers were distributed to all supported facilities, cascaded to all target regions and their implementation was followed up.
• Provided technical support to FMOH and RHBs in expanding/strengthening and improving quality of PMTCT/MNCH/FP services in the country

 

Project title: Performance assessment of Emergency Surgical Officers (ESOs) deployed at 97 Primary Hospitals in Ethiopia (Strengthening CEmONC at the facility level supporting Integrated Emergency surgery MSC Program):

Objective: To provide an in-depth performance assessment of CEmONC services provided by Emergency Surgical Officers deployed at the Primary/District hospitals of the country and inform the national IESO program, for quality improvements of CEmONC service.

Project sites:

 The project sites were 97 facilities located in all regions of the country except Addis Ababa & Dire Dawa Administration. The regional distribution of facilities is shown in the following table.

SN	Region	Number of facilities
1	Oromiya	31
2	Tigray	24
3	SNNP	18
4	Amhara	17
5	Somali	3
6	Benishangul Gumuz	2
7	Gambella	1
8	Harari	1
	Total	97

 

Major activities accomplished:

Assessment was carried out from July 27 up to December 10/2015 in two rounds. The assessment was carried out in all sites except one site found where there was no assigned ESO at all. 29 clinicians (21 Obstetricians and 8 surgeons) and 29 PHS were involved in the data collection. The assessment report was submitted to Federal Ministry of Health and endorsement is still being awaited. After the report is endorsed, it will be publised and dissemination workshop conducted.

 

Project title:Improving Maternal and Newborn Health Project at two Regions of Ethiopia:

Funded by: Department of Gynecology, Martin Luther University (MLU) in Halle an der Saale Under supervision of the Working Group on International women’s Health (AG FIDE) of German Society of Obstetricinas and Gynecologists of Germany

Project Period: January 1, 2014 to July 31, 2016

Objective: To improve maternal and newborn health by increasing quality and accessiblity of Essential Services

Project sites: Butajira Zonal Hospital and Bishoftu Zonal Hospital

Major Activities Accomplished:

– Baseline assessment conducted

– Operationalization of Community Based Technical Team

– Documentation and reporting of MNH vital statistics

– Provided Integrated Refresher Training to Health Extension Workers

– Developed and distributed IEC/BCC materials

– Procured and dsitributed medical supplies

– Carried out community mobilization actvities

– Conducted monitoring and evaluation

– Conducted project endline assessment

 

Project title:Sexual Assault Clinical Outreach Project:

Objective– to improve the delivery of integrated and quality of care for survivors of sexual violence.

Project Period: January 2013-December 2015.

Funded by: UNFPA

Major activities accomplished:

• Training on care for survivors of sexual violnce were conducted.
• Mekelle, Gondar and Jimma Model Clinics were established to provide care for survivors of sexual assault in Ethiopia were handed over to the hospitals administration when the project phased out.
• Standard operating procedure on response and prevention of sexual violence was developed and published.
• Outreach campaigns were undertaken where UVP surgeries and cervical cancer screening were performed.

 

Project title:Women and Their Children’s Health (WATCH) Project:

WATCH project was funded through the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development (DFATD) and managed by Plan International Canada working through partnering with Plan International Ethiopia, Society of Obstetricians & Gynecologists of Canada (SOGC) and Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG). WATCH project used a community-based approach to improve the quality of community outreach and MNCH services, while encouraging health-seeking behaviors and improved health care management to reduce the three delays for patients to seek care and to save the lives of more mothers and their children.

WATCH project was implemented in 8 rural districts in three regions namely: Amhara Region: Lasta, Bugena and Meket districts; Oromia Region; Tiro Afeta & Kersa districts and SNNPR Region: Shebedino, Gorche and Bona Zuria districts. The project was implemented from November 2011 to April 2015.

The major activities accomplished during the implementation of the project were:

• Two ESOG board members travel to Canada for WATCH Project Orientation meeting.
• ToT training on ALARM International Program for ESOG members.
• BEmONC needs assessment at 48 health centers.
• A three-day BEmONC sensitization workshop for health administrators conducted to create an enabling environment for BEmONC service at the ground level.
• Follow up meeting on BEmONC with health administrators.
• CEmONC focal persons were also recruited for each of the three regions. The CEmONC focal persons are ESOG members who oversee that referrals are occurring in a timely and efficient manner between BEmONC and CEmONC facilities.
• Training of 167 mid-level health care providers on BEmONC.
• Five rounds of quarterly supportive supervision were carried out.
• Meeting with CEmONC focal persons.
• Five types of BEmONC related posters were developed and distributed to health centers.

After all these efforts, health care providers are managing complications that were previously referred. Project monitoring trends indicated increases in usage of MNCH services (i.e. four antenatal visits and/or delivery with a skilled birth attendant).

 

Project title:FIGO LOGIC Initiative in MNH Project:

The goal of FIGO-LOGIC Initiative in MNH Project was to improve policy and practice by strengthening Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and using its position and knowledge to facilitate and contribute to these improvements, leading to better MNH for under-served populations in Ethiopia. The project was funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation through International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) during the period of November 2009 to October 2013.

Major Performances of the project during the project period were establishing working groups of health professionals and other partners working on MNCH in Ethiopia. The group conducted meetings every six months, and twelve organizations represented and conducted 11 regular meetings and discussed on the current MNH affairs and each organization presented its best practices. By the help of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada an organizational capacity building framework and plan were developed and implemented.

Under the project, a weekly FM radio broadcast and articles in private newspaper were posted. Birth and death registration in eight public hospitals were conducted. Regarding maternal death and near miss case, reviewing standard and structured questionnaire were developed and used to collect data. Hospitals started completing the tools since May 2011, preliminary (six months) and final paper (18 months) produced and findings communicated at different events. Maternal Death Review Ethiopian Initial Experiences Sharing Workshop was conducted in Addis Ababa and people from five African Countries which also implemented the FIGO-LOGIC project participated in the workshop. In addition, regional health bureaus and other partners attended the experience sharing workshop.

In addition, provision of technical update training for health professionals was conducted for 2 consecutive years. Changes and improvements were observed as a result of maternal death review processes like formal deaths and near miss review is in place, relatively complete information kept in client or patient card, improved patient card retrieval system and good documentation of MDR process was developed and implemented. Services are available 24/7 in all facilities. In the health facilities oral referrals are minimized. These hospitals have improved linkage and give supervision to health centers. Moreover, feedbacks are given to referring health centers, and there are decreased unnecessary referrals. Project mid-term review was conducted by external independent consultants on all physical and financial project status.

Challenges faced in conducting maternal death review were vital. Moreover, MNH statistics registration is incomplete and there is difficulty of requiring information near or at the time of maternal death. There is also inaccurate measurement of medical causes of deaths and near misses, and fear of being judged. The other challenges are demanding workload and women were afraid to tell their stories.

Project title:Sexual Violence against Women Project:

The objective is to improve the delivery of integrated and quality of care for survivors of sexual violence. It was funded by UNFPA. The project was started in April 2009 and ended in May 2012. Activities accomplished include: Two model clinics were established providing services to survivors of sexual assault at Adama & Hawassa Hospitals, health care providers are trained on care for survivors of sexual assault, nationalization of training manual developed by ESOG on care for survivors of sexual assault, inclusion of GBV in the medical school curricula is successful, monitoring and evaluation conducted and purchase of medical equipment and supplies to the model clinics undertaken.

Project title:Magnesium Sulphate use for prevention of Preeclampsia and Eclampsia related mortality in Ethiopia:

The objective of the project was to contribute towards the reduction of maternal mortality by introducing Mgso4 in all public hospitals in Ethiopia. The project was funded by UNICEF. The partners are UNICEF, Federal Ministry of Health, Pharmaceutical Fund Supply Agency and Emory University. The project started in April 2009 and ended in July 2011. The activities accomplished include training of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, an advocacy on magnesium sulphate at the ESOG 2010 annual conference through a program on “MgSO4 Day” was undertaken, training to General Practitioners, Health Officers & midwifes given at the local chapters of ESOG and Addis Ababa, data collection in 24 hospitals selected for audit and distribution of Mgso4 drug.

 

Project title: Saving Mothers and Newborns at two regions of Ethiopia (Amhara and Oromia)-Fiche Hospital, Debre Markos Hospital, Ejere Health Center and Bichena Health Center:

The objective of the project was expanding and strengthening maternal and newborn care. The project is funded by FIDE, Germany and the partners are Regional Health Bureaus and Zonal Health Departments. The project sites are from Amhara region-East Gojam Zone-Debremarkos Hospital and Bichena Health Center and from Oromiya Region North Shewa Zone-Fiche Hospital and Ejerie Health Center. The project started in January 2009 and ended in June 2012.

The major activities accomplished include: Technical update and skill standardization training, training of providers at zonal hospitals and referral health centers to conduct near miss audit. Blood bank is established in Debremarkos and Fiche Hospitals. Community mobilization activities were undertaken, supportive supervision activities were performed. End line survey was conducted.

 

Project title:Improving Comprehensive Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care Services in Ethiopia:

Objective: To contribute towards the reduction of maternal morbidity and mortality through provision of quality comprehensive emergency and obstetric and newborn care services

Funder: Federal Ministry of Health

Project period: November 2010 – June 2011

Project Sites:

1	Shire Hospital
2	Finote Selam Hospital
3	Gimbi Hospital
4	Deder Hospital
5	Yirgalem Hospital
6	Abi Adi Hospital
7	Lalibela Hospital
8	Kuyu Hospital
9	Gambela Hospital
10	Dupti Hospital
11	Tefera Hailu Memorial Hospital
12	Hidar 12 Hospital
13	Gindeberet Hospital
14	Degehabour Hospital
15	Debre Tabor Hospital
16	Robe Didea Hospital
17	Chiro Hospital
18	Durame Hospital
19	Enat Hospital
20	Tercha Hospital
21	Gida Ayana Hospital

 

Activities Accomplished:

– Twenty one full time Obstetricinas and Gynecologists recruited, trained and employed for six months to provide training and mentorship before they were deployed to the hospitals of their assignment.

– Three rounds of trainings were conducted where 41 trainees (GPs and Health Officers) completed the training successfully.

– More than 23,315 mothers received OBGYN services.

Project title:Safe Motherhood and RH Project:

The major objective is to improve the availability, accessibility, quality and use of basic obstetric care and family planning services. The project is in Hadiya Zone of SNNPR and funded by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. The partners are Ethiopian Midwives Association and Zonal Health Bureau & Woreda Health Bureaus. The project started in April 2008 and ended in September 2011.

Major activities accomplished include; Training on family planning & Emergency Obstetric and Newborn care were conducted. Community mobilization activities were undertaken & supply of appropriate medical equipment and supplies to the project sites undertaken.

Project title:Ensuring sustainability of the model clinic of victims of sexual violence and strengthening collaboration against sexual violence:

It aims to improve sexual violence related health, legal and social services in Addis Ababa. It started at the end of 2007 and ended in August 2010. UNFPA financed the project Gandhi Memorial Hospital and Addis Ababa legal system were project site partners.

Project title:Strengthening and expansion of service provision at the model clinic and nationalization of ESOG’s guidelines on comprehensive management for survivors of sexual assault:

The objective of the project is to improve sexual gender based violence related health, legal and social services in Ethiopia. Family Health Department of Federal Ministry of Health worked in collaboration with the society. It was financed by Population Council. It was started in November 2007 and completed in March 2009. Project successfully completed and achieved the major activity of providing the country with a national guideline for management of survivors of sexual assault.

 

Project title:ESOG-Venture Strategies Post-Partum Hemorrhage Prevention Initiative:

It aimed to expand Misoprostol knowledge and provision by developing national guideline on active management of third stage of labor (AMTSL) with Misoprostol and by inclusion of Misoprostol use during Active Management of Third Stage of Labor for prevention and treatment of Post-Partum Hemorrhage in mid-level health training school’s curricula. Ministry of Health and Venture Strategies for Health and Development are the major collaborators. It was funded by Venture Strategies for Health Development.

 

Project title:Saving Mothers and Newborns Initiative:

It aimed to improve basic emergency obstetric and newborn care. It was started in 2007 and completed in Dec 2008. The project is funded by ACCESS-USAID. Project site partners were Ambo hospital and its referring 10 health centers.

 

Project title: Prevention of Post-Partum Hemorrhage Initiative (POPPHI):  

This was a regional survey on the management of the third stage of labor which is conducted in collaboration with Family Health Department, Ministry of Health. It was carried out from 2006-2007. The aim of the study was to provide the descriptive information necessary to assess current practices regarding Active Management of Third Stage of Labor and to identify major barriers to its use. A complementary component of the study includes a qualitative assessment of perceptions and practices with regard to serious post-partum bleeding in home births. The secondary aim was to provide public domain tools for future monitoring activities. The projects sites were 10 health professional training institutions and 6 health facilities located in Tigray, Dire Dawa and Harari regions.

 

Project title:Save the Mothers and RH Project:

The project was a three-year project implemented from 2004-2007. It was aimed at improving access to life saving procedures and ensure skilled care at delivery, demonstrate ways and means of increasing use of injectable contraceptives by involving junior health personnel at health post level in two regions, make use of the results of the study to influence policy makers and managers on ways of expanding FP utilization with special emphasis on injectables, to build support to influence policy on sexual and reproductive rights including abortion services and orient women on family law including the revised law on abortion.

 

Project title:Mainstreaming emergency contraception in to public sector:

Its objective is familiarization of Emergency Contraception in the country by using the dedicated products (progestin only preparation). It has been implemented in the project sites of 5 regions of the country, in 37 health institutions. It was funded by African Forum on Emergency Contraception (EC Afrique). Federal Ministry of Health & Regional Health Bureaus were the collaborators of the project. It was completed at the beginning of 2008.

 

Project title:Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Project: 

A two-year project from 2004- 2006. It was aimed at raising awareness of stakeholders and members alike, develop a national code of ethics on sexual and reproductive health and subsequently introduce same into medical curricula of post graduate studies in Obstetrics and Gynecology and undergraduate studies in Obstetrics and Gynecology and undergraduate medical students. In addition, it increased public awareness on the problem of unsafe abortion and made sure that unsafe abortion remains in the public agenda by involving the media. The project was implemented with Federal Minisitry of Health and FIGO.

 

Project title:Active Management of the Third Stage of Labor (AMTSL):

A project implemented from February 2003 – June 2004 launched in collaboration with Federal Ministry of Health Ethiopia and IntraHealth-International. The project focused on reduction of maternal mortality and morbidity through preventing the occurrence of Post Partum Hemorrhage by the universal application of active management of third stage of labor.

 

Project title:Save the Mothers Initiative (SMI):
The first project of ESOG. A five years pilot project carried out from 1998 to 2004 in collaboration with FIGO and Swedish Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology. The major aim of the project was availing Emergency Obstetric Care services to rural women. Project site is Ambo town in West Shoa zone, 125 KM west of Addis Ababa.

 

Consultancy for Research

Prevention of Unsafe Abortion Initiative (Situational Analysis):

Ipas funded the project and FIGO is a collaborator with the Society.

Health Professionals Survey on Health System Cost of Unsafe Abortion:

Its objective was to increase awareness and provide evidence on health system cost of unsafe abortion for advocacy and evidence based policy action. The site of project sampled public and private health facilities and it was funded by Ipas Ethiopia. FMoH and Ethiopian Public Health Association were the collaborators. It started in November 2007 and completed.

Female Genital Mutilation (FGM):

The Society in collaboration with Care Ethiopia conducted an institutional capacity assessment to provide care for complications of FGM and development of training material for management of these complications.

Developing Training Manual for Comprehensive Abortion Care: 

Its objective was to standardize and increase quality of training on comprehensive abortion care. The project was undertaken by FMoH, Ipas Ethiopia and Engender Health Ethiopia.