Washington, DC, and Addis Ababa, 31 August 2023 – The American International Health Alliance (AIHA) is a proud sponsor of a landmark gathering of global health leaders and practitioners next week in Addis Ababa.
Hosted by the International Institute for Primary Health Care-Ethiopia (IPHC-E) and the Federal Ministry of Health with support from the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, the 2023 International Conference on Primary Health Care will bring together some 500 practitioners, leaders, and decision-makers dedicated to building “Resilient Primary Health Care: The Foundation of Universal Health Coverage in the Era of Sustainable Development Goals.”
The event will take place Sept. 5-7 at the Skylight Hotel in Addis Ababa.
Overarching themes of the conference include using a whole-of-government approach to make bold political choices for health across all sectors; tapping into the latest technologies and resources to build sustainable primary health care (PHC) services and providers capable of meeting the needs of all people; empowering individuals, care providers, and communities to ensure effective, relevant services; and aligning stakeholder support with national policies, strategies, and plans.
AIHA has been helping low- and middle-income countries around the globe develop capacity in PHC since 1999, most recently in Ethiopia by working to strengthen the capacity of the IPHC-E to serve as both a national and regional resource supporting the delivery of quality PHC services.
With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, AIHA established a twinning partnership linking the IPHC-E with the University of Queensland (UQ) in Australia. UQ experts are providing technical assistance to build IPHC-E’s operational capacity to design, implement, evaluate, and improve the quality of its training programs. They are also collaborating to train a cadre of master trainers, focusing on PHC, advocacy, and operational research to roll out and scale up the trainings at six PHC Hubs throughout Ethiopia with the goal of facilitating future capacity building of local health workers. In addition, the partnership is supporting IPHC-E’s efforts to become a PHC Center of Excellence and a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre in PHC. 
“Primary health care is essential to attain universal health coverage, as well as to ensure health and promote well-being for all people, but countries around the world are at different stages of implementation of the PHC approach to establish systems for health,” explains Dr. Yibeltal Assefa Alemu, Senior Academic in Global Health Systems at the University of Queensland’s School of Public Health and AIHA Project Technical Lead.
“This conference brings together PHC practitioners, policymakers, researchers, and funders from all corners of the world. I hope the event will provide an interactive and engaging experience to gain lessons that assist countries in their endeavors to strengthen their PHC systems towards the attainment of UHC and health-related Sustainable Development Goals,” Dr. Yibeltal says.
During the conference, AIHA will showcase project approaches and outcomes through:
- A roundtable session titled, “A Twinning Partnership Program to Strengthen Capacity for Policy and Practice of Primary Health Care: Effectiveness and Sustainability,” (Sept. 6, 15:15-16:15)
- A roundtable session titled, “Empowering Health Sector Leaders: Journey and Milestones of the Leadership Incubation Program for Health (LIP-H) in Ethiopia,” (Sept 7, 11:15 -12: 00)
- Capstone Project poster discussion of the Leadership Incubation Program (Sept. 6-7, Exhibition Area during breaks)
- Capstone Project poster discussion, “Inactive Performance Monitoring Team (PMT) at SNNPRs Health Bureau,” (Sept. 6-7, Exhibition Area during breaks)
- Capstone Project poster discussion, “Reduce Number of CT formal reading from 70% up to below 25% from January 2022 to April 2022 at ALERT Comprehensive Specialized Hospital,” (Sept. 6-7, Exhibition Area during breaks)
For more information, please contact: Kidest Hailu, Country Director, AIHA Ethiopia Tel: +251 116 188 932 E-mail: khailu@aiha-et.com