USDFA deploys medical-personnel to The Bishoftu Hospital in Debre-Zeyit.

As part of its long term commitment to the country of Ethiopia, USDFA recently deployed another round of medical personnel to the Bishoftu Hospital, in the city of Debre-Zeyit. The hospital, founded around 1948 by citizens of Italy, now serves a total population of around half a million people. The hospital has only seven Doctors, five of whom are general practitioners while the other two are a surgeon and the other a gynecologist.

USDFA in partnership with the Bishoftu Hospital and the regional government administrator is committed to continuing its deployment of additional medical team as well as some life-saving medical equipments and supplies the hospital "is" in desperate need for.

With the direction and close partnership with the medial director of the hospital, USDFA medical personnel will perform various services, including in the ER room as well as training local care-providers.

In September of 2004, USDFA began sending teams of volunteer medical professionals and operations staff to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in order to provide urgent health care services as well as to participate in the nationwide effort to expand health care to rural area across the country. Our first teams of health care professionals were stationed at the Zewditu Memorial Hospital - one of the five major hospitals administered under the Addis Ababa City Administration Health Bureau. The Zewditu Memorial Hospital is centrally located in the capital city of Addis Ababa where it serves an exceptionally high patient demand year round. The hospital is in a dire need for more medical Doctors and other health care professionals in order to cope with the growing number of patients coming to seek medical care.

USDFA volunteer teams work side by side with host medical staff providing services primarily of benefit to women and children. Our volunteers provide training seminars on prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, care of HIV positive individuals and voluntary counseling and testing programs. To ensure the future self-sufficiency of the hospital, USDFA volunteers also provide education and training in hospital administration. Our operations team in the United States seeks to secure the medical equipment and supplies necessary to expand the capacity of the Zewditu Memorial Hospital. In addition, longer-term USDFA medical volunteers are developing programs to expand services including the development of a targeted mother-to-child transmission of HIV prevention program as well as a voluntary counseling and testing program.

Our medical mission continue to expand...and,...Ethiopia has become USDFA's first African nation to partner on our Mobile Clinic Initiative. The first mobile clinic due to arrive in Ethiopia April 08' in order to participate in the health care expansion effort to rural settings. The ministry of health and other local NGOs are among the key stake-holders of the mobile clinic project.

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1. Center for Disease Control and Prevention Website "HHS/CDC Global AIDS Program (GAP) in Ethiopia - FY 2003, http://www.cdc.gov/nchstp/od/gap/countries/ethiopia.htm
   
2. UNDP "Human Development Report 2006,"
3. World Bank Website, "Ethiopia Data Profile" 2003, http://devdata.worldbank.org/