The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Federal Ministry of Health (MOH) officially launched the USAID Quality Healthcare activity, a new maternal and child health project that will be implemented across Ethiopia by John Snow, Inc. (JSI).
This new five-year $49.8 million (more than 2.6 billion Birr) activity will support maternal and child health in 67 woredas across six regions of Ethiopia: Sidama, Amhara, Oromia, Central Ethiopia, South Ethiopia, and the Southwest Ethiopia Peoples’ Regions. This work will be complemented by an upcoming project focused on healthcare issues specific to pastoral populations in the other regions of Ethiopia.
USAID’s Quality Healthcare project is tailored to each health facility, providing medical equipment and training as needed, with the goal of reducing illness and fatalities among newborns, mothers, and children. Specifically, the activity will save lives by fighting the three of the leading illnesses that threaten Ethiopia’s most vulnerable mothers and babies: neonatal sepsis, postpartum hemorrhage in mothers, and pneumonia in newborns.
At the launch event, USAID Mission Director Scott Hocklander was joined by State Minister of Health His Excellency Dr. Dereje Duguma. During his remarks, Director Hocklander said, “The new USAID Quality Healthcare activity is designed to build upon decades of partnership and results with the Ministry of Health in Ethiopia. Over the last ten years, USAID has invested over 2.2 billion dollars in the health and wellness of Ethiopians, which has saved countless lives.”
“In 2022 alone, USAID invested more than $1.8 billion across the country in humanitarian and development aid. This new project is another example of the continued cooperation between the American people and the people of Ethiopia,” USAID said in a press release.