Improvement of the decentralized care for chronic diseases in Ethiopia

Contact:  Dr. Eva Kantelhardt

Duration: 1.1.2020 – 30.04.2022

Funding:GIZ

Summary:

Comprehensive screening and management of chronic diseases improves the general health results of the population in the project areas. The project is carried out with an interdisciplinary approach based on building capacities and networking employees and infrastructures. The basis is the "Global Health Team" of the MLU and the "NCD Working Group" of the AAU, which is made up of clinicians, health experts, epidemiologists and laboratory scientists who have been dealing with chronic diseases and cancer in Ethiopia since 2009. We see the need to improve rural care and we want to address that. We will improve integrated bespoke screening for chronic diseases (cervical and breast cancer, high blood pressure and diabetes) in health centers of eight collaborating general hospitals in south / south-west Ethiopia. By developing innovative information material (apps) for patients, visitors and the public, we will increase the acceptance of and compliance with preventive medical checkups for chronic diseases. For the early detection of cervical cancer, we will facilitate the use of modern HPV-based tests in a central laboratory in Addis Ababa, the computer-aided identification and tracking of the sample in the laboratory and the IT-based transmission of the results to the rural health facility. Women who are positively screened are linked and referred to the respective health facilities.

The project is supported by the initiative Hospital Partnerships - Partners Strengthen Health and the eHealth project of the World Health Organization (WHO).