Washington, DC, and Addis Ababa, 26 August 2024 – The Oromia Health Bureau recently opened a Staff Clinic in Addis Ababa to promote prevention, early screening, detection, and treatment services that help mitigate noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) among some 9,600 employees of its various sector bureaus.
The initiative was developed by three Oromia Health Bureau employees who participated in the sixth cohort of the Leadership Incubation Program for Health (LIP-H), a capacity-building collaboration of AIHA, Ethiopia’s Federal Ministry of Health (FOMH), and the International Institute of Primary Health Care-Ethiopia (IPHC-E).
As part of their LIP-H training, Meaza Hailu, Healthcare Quality Specialist and Improvement Adviser; Yonas Mekonnen, Regional Senior HIV/AIDS Expert; and Ayane Wakjira, Health Extension Program Officer, designed a capstone project that investigated NCD prevalence rates among employees of Oromia Health Bureau’s regional sectors and developed comprehensive strategies to address this public health challenge effectively and promote employee health and well-being.
Celebrating the opening of the Staff Clinic.
Based on their research, hypertension, diabetes, and cervical cancer, as well as need for emergency care, emerged as the key health concerns among employees screened. The team determined that lack of early detection, inadequate awareness and health-seeking behavior, work-related stress, poor dietary habits, and lack of workplace health screenings, surveillance, and health education programs contributed to rising NCD cases for staff.
Speakers at the Oromia Regional Health Bureau Staff Clinic opening included Dr. Gusha Belako, Deputy Bureau Head and Chief of the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Wing; Alemu Chanyalew Dejen, Deputy Bureau Head and Advisor for Urban Development and Housing Bureau; and Gemu Tiru, FMOH Health Equity and Leadership Improvement Desk Leader and a graduate of the first LIP-H cohort.
Gemu Tiru, FMOH Health Equity and Leadership Improvement Desk Leader and a graduate of the first LIP-H cohort.
“I want to congratulate the team for successfully completing the project and initiating these services, as well as the American International Health Alliance and the IPHC-E for collaborating with Ministry of Health in implementing the LIP-H since 2019,” Gemu Tiru said, noting that the new Staff Clinic will be a primary first point of contact for NCD screening, first aid, and referrals to secondary and tertiary care.
The initiative reflects the Oromia Regional Health Bureau’s commitment to work collaboratively to strengthen the screening and early management of NCD cases and promote employee health and well-being.
Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, AIHA’s LIP-H project supports the FMOH, its agencies, and Regional Health Bureau staff to develop a cadre of highly trained public health leaders in Ethiopia at all levels so that they can equitably deliver quality health services to improve health outcomes. It is a competency-based, six-month in-service training program whose participants are professionals currently working in the health sector or health science education graduate interns who aspire to work in public health leadership, program management, or supervisory roles. Participants are also early-career professionals who are looking to prepare themselves for higher-level leadership roles. More than 240 professionals have completed LIP-H training to date and the seventh and final cohort is slated to graduate in the fall.
For more information, please contact: Kidest Hailu, Country Director, AIHA Ethiopia Tel: +251 116 188 932 E-mail: khailu@aiha-et.com