With a population of 73 million people, Ethiopia's current surgical and obstetrical services do not meet the needs of the population. Deaths from obstetrical and traumatic causes are widespread. CNIS has been working in Ethiopia in surgical, obstetrics and trauma training since 1995, while focusing on providing greater health services to Ethiopia's marginalized populations. Presently CNIS collaborates with three medical universities in Addis Ababa, Gondor, and Jimma, as well as medical schools in Awassa and Mekele. The country has been an important site for the innovations CNIS has established throughout East and Southern Africa. As a country with a recent conflict, CNIS peace building work in Axum assist in stabilizing efforts towards peace and greater security in the region.
The CNIS has been working with surgeons in Addis Ababa since 1996. ESS has become a regular part of the 6th year Medical school curriculum. Surgical Skills training is an active part of the new Skills Lab at the Black Lion Hospital in Addis Ababa. There are now 23 certified ESS instructors in Addis. In addition Structured Hernia Repair Courses are held regularly. New courses in craniotomy and laparoscopic surgery are planned. The CNIS Patron is Dr. Berhanu Kottisso and the Director is Abebe Bekele.
CNIS brought ESS to Awassa in 2008. Yifru Berhan is the present ESS Patron and Aberra Gobeze is the ESS Director in Awassa.
In 2008, the CNIS Peacebuilding for Elementary Schools Course from Gulu was translated and implemented in Axum, Northern Ethiopia, which has also recently been affected by war.
CNIS initiated its ESS activity in Gondar in May of 2001. This was supported with Canadian and Addis Ababa facilitation. Mensur is the present ESS Patron and Dr. Gashaw is the ESS Director in Gondar.
The ESS course was developed in Jimma. The course was transferred prior to taking its present format. Much of the present structure was created due to lessons learned in Jimma. However Jimma did not benefit from these improvements. CNIS and Addis surgeons re-established ESS in Jimma in August of 2001. Dr. Samson is the present ESS Patron and Dr. Chuchu Girmaye is the ESS Director in Jimma.
CNIS has launched an innovation project to establish surgical learning centers at six universities in Ethiopia. The universities in this project will have learning centers that are dedicated for surgical and obstetrical care at the end of the project. The project also will have an institutional capacity building component where surgical department staff will attend workshops in management, leadership and fund raising skills.
In addition to the substantive output of ESS in Ethiopia there are several other collaborative activities. Dr.'s Mulat and Mensur have completed an evaluation of small arms injury in Addis and Gondor as part of a multi-country study. Dr. Firdwasa Mohammed is doing a study of the barriers for women in surgery in Ethiopia and Dr. Girmaye Tamrat is doing a study of the barriers to surgical care for patients at St Paul's Hospital in Addis and in Gondor. The constructive partnerships with Ethiopia are leading to improved surgical capacity in this country as well as an improved understanding of the complexities of the causes and management of surgical disorders in a low income country.
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