Ethiopia: Medical Projects
There are two medical focused projects in Ethiopia. The Medical Emergency Fund (MEF) provides for transport, care, surgery and medicine for individuals in need, and the Medical Outreach (MOP) funds initiatives supporting Ethiopian doctors and hospitals to strengthen community health care in the country, including funding training of health care workers, clinics to rural areas, health screening programs and other initiatives supporting community health access.
Relief and Development
MEF is a flexible responsive project providing assistance to children and young people who need medical or surgical treatment. As explained above, often this assistance to an individual leads to a MOP project being set up when it becomes evident that the need is shared by others in the community and if it is possible to support local hospitals to respond to this need. As just a few examples, over the years MEF has assisted a number of children and young people to access lifesaving overseas heart surgery, treatments for various medical and surgical needs within Ethiopia, and palliative care nursing and supports.
During the last twelve months the Medical Emergency Fund has provided assistance for many individual situations including:
- Funds for the mother of a Lalibela sponsorship youth who is palliative stage of illness. Funds for a carer and a nurse to visit at home to decrease the anxiety and stress of the young person who is the sole carer, as well as improve her quality of end of life, and allow her son to continue in school.
- Funds approved for 2 children from Meskele Kristos requiring travel and treatment, including new prosthetics.
- Some funds used for children in the Bulbula project with a variety of medical and surgical needs, including cleft palate, imperforate anus, missing or deformed limbs, epilepsy and so on.
