USAID Reaches Out to Ethiopia’s Children
Child Survival Partnership
Aims to Combat Child Illness and Deaths
In Ethiopia three quarters of children who seek medical care suffer from preventable illnesses – malaria, diarrhea, measles, pneumonia and micronutrient deficiency. But only two tenths of one percent of Ethiopians visit a health provider or clinic each year. The two facts combine to form a lethal dose as almost half a million children in Ethiopia are dying each year from easily preventable diseases.
Compounding this, Ethiopia has been ravaged by a shortage in food production, a major drought, crop failure and a deadly malaria epidemic.
The Child Survival Partnership – a new alliance between UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank, Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) initiated its efforts in Ethiopia in December to improve child health and save children dying of preventable causes.
During a visit to Ethiopia to improve access to quality, essential health services for children, Dr. E. Anne Peterson, Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Global Health said the country is at a crossroads. "We have a major opportunity to improve the health of Ethiopian children and their families. There is a solid foundation of sound policy and direction upon which to build. Improving child health is within our reach. Ethiopia’s leadership and innovative approaches on child survival can serve as a model for other countries. And the children – the most vulnerable – deserve our undivided attention."
To demonstrate our commitment to Ethiopia’s children, USAID made several major commitments to improve child survival including, a major five-year $18 million child health program in three of Ethiopia’s regions – Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR), Oromia and Amhara to tackle the overwhelming problem of preventable child illness and deaths; $400,000 to strengthen immunizations in Ethiopia; $500,000 to confront the threat of malaria, the major cause of disease and death among children in Ethiopia; and $400,000 for Vitamin A supplementation. In Ethiopia, where a vast number of children die before their fifth birthday, vitamin A supplementation can make a significant contribution to reduce child illness and deaths.
In partnership with Ethiopian Government, communities, and international and local NGOs, USAID will work to strengthen the capacities of health services and communities to achieve better health, including integrated training for frontline health workers and support for the implementation of the Government’s new Health Extension Package. The partnership will also work with the Ethiopian government to increase the use of proven, effective interventions like immunization, vitamin A supplements and malaria prevention and treatment.
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