Projects

Ethiopia

In cooperation with the Swedish development organization Human Bridge and Region Västra Götaland are able to carry out numerous projects in many countries. Highest priority is given to poor areas in Africa where the needs are extreme.

One of the poorest countries in the world, Ethiopia, has chosen to make a great investment in a build up of the primary care. Their cooperation with Human Bridge, and us, enables them to obtain vast quantities of goods to a cost that is far less than it would cost them to purchase new equipment on the world market.

They finance part of the handling and transportation costs, but all materiel is free of charge. Transportation from Sweden to Ethiopia is costly and the Ethiopian Ministry of Health contributes. By doing so, they make it possible for even larger quantities to be shipped. An agreement between Human Bridge and its Ethiopian counterparts was signed during our visit in April 2008.

The Shashemene hospital 300 km outside Addis Abeba has 165 beds and is the only referral hospital for approximately 5 000 000 people.

The hospital is crowded and not only inside the hospital walls. It is not uncommon that patients must walk for days and then wait in line for another day before they can see a doctor. Dying while giving birth is still very common and even if the delivery is without complications a shocking number of children don not live to experience their fifth birthday. Average lifespan for an Ethiopian citizen is 49 years.

Almost everything is lacking in Ethiopian hospitals, but despite the frustration you experience as a visitor when you are faced with the enormous needs, there is still a small satisfaction in seeing that the materiel that has been sent is in place and been put to good use.