Overview of maternal health in Ethiopia

Ethiopia made a striding change in maternal death over the last decades, the MMR decreased from 871 per 100,000 in 2000 to 401 per 100,000 in 2017 , this is death of about 12,000 mothers every year.  Direct obstetric complications account for 85% of the deaths. The long-term conditions disable women following delivery-related complications, such as fistula, uterine prolapsed, chronic pelvic pain, depression and exhaustion.

INTRODUCTION

In 2015, the Government of Ethiopia made a high level fifteen-year commitment to end stunting in children under two years by 2030. This commitment, known as the Seqota Declaration (SD), is operationalized through a multi-sectoral program involving nine different sector ministries including Ministries of Health; Agriculture; Education; Water, Irrigation and Energy; Women, Children and Youth, Transport and Finance, MOLSA and Culture and Tourism. The Seqota Declaration has a 15-year roadmap divided into three phases: Innovation, Expansion and Scale-Up phases.

Introduction 

Ethiopia has witnessed encouraging progress in reducing malnutrition over the past decade. However, baseline levels of malnutrition remain so high that Ethiopia still needs to continue significant investment in nutrition. 

I.    Background

Ethiopia has achieved admirable results in reducing the under-five mortality rate (U5MR), from a very high level of 222 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1990 to 55 deaths per 1,000 live births in 2019 (Mini EDHS 2019), effectively reducing theU5MR by two thirds. Despite this success, the neonatal mortality rate (NMR) has remained at 30 deaths per 1,000 live births thus increasingly accounting for a

The goal of Saving Lives through Safe Surgery (SaLTS) flagship initiative is to make emergency and essential surgical and anesthesia care accessible and affordable as part of the universal health coverage. The SaLTS strategic plan focuses on availing a package of essential and emergency surgical and anesthesia care at all levels of the Ethiopian health care delivery system. The plan places special emphasis on strengthening primary care to provide essential surgical care. 

The Goal of the Quality Equity and Dignity for Maternal and Newborn health initiative is to halve institutional maternal and new-born deaths in health facilities in the learning districts and improve experience of care over a period of 5 years.  It is a country-led initiative which builds on domestic resources and national structures for quality of care
This initiative has four strategic objectives named as LALA: 

The best way to reduce death and disability from life-threatening conditions is to prevent them. However, when prevention fails, it is often possible to minimize the consequences of serious acute conditions, including long-term morbidity or mortality, by promptly providing effective prehospital care. 

Well-organized acute care is a key mechanism for achieving a range of Sustainable Development Goal targets, including those on universal health coverage, road safety, maternal and child health, non-communicable diseases, infectious diseases, disasters and violence. It also helps WHO to fulfill the mandate of its Thirteenth General Program of Work 2019-2023 to strengthen health systems, widen coverage of essential health services and improve integrated service delivery. The role of acute care system in achieving the health sector’s transformation plan (HSTP II) is unprecedented.