Ethiopia’s health policy aims to provide comprehensive primary healthcare through decentralizing health facilities, health personnel, and equitable resources. Through its healthcare intervention, Gudina Tumsa Foundation (GTF) strives to complement the government’s efforts. To this end, GTF focuses on reproductive health, maternal and child health, primary healthcare, communicable diseases, and nutrition.
Health coverage is low in many rural kebeles, and a significant portion of community members are unable to visit healthcare institutions when they fall ill. Communicable diseases are the primary cause of child morbidity and mortality in rural marginalized communities.
Before GTF began its intervention in the East Shoa area, there were no established health facilities like health posts and health centers in Didimtu and Fantalle districts. People must travel on average for three hours to access health facilities in nearby kebele/district. This issue coupled with other factors like financial constrain, higher medical and transportation fees, and cultural beliefs have perpetuated negative healthcare-seeking behavior among the community. As a result, very few women access institutional delivery and the majority of mothers deliver at home thereby increasing the risk of maternal mortality from post-partum bleeding and infection. Similarly, to this, there is a relatively low level of community understanding regarding health service utilization, Immunization, family planning, & basic hygiene principles are very low.
GTF Philosophy Toward Health
The developmental approach of GTF’s Healthcare program emanates from Rev. Gudina Tumsa’s vision and commitment. His Community-based (—Provide an avenue for the democratization of development by allowing scope for participation and expression by the local rural population’’) and Holistic approach (—an integral human development, where the spiritual and materials needs are seen together is the only approach to the development question in our society) meaning allowing for the participation of the community from the inception to the realization in project development to address the holistic needs of the people is the roadmap for project implementation.
Accordingly, GTF’s implementation approach in Healthcare initiatives considers the needs, culture, and behaviors of the poor and vulnerable communities that are most at risk of communicable and infectious diseases.
Health-Facility Development: Didimtu and Laga Tafo
Health Post is the lowest health facility in the four-tier system of referral system. According to FMoH, it is expected to serve a population of 5,000 living in the adjacent villages within walking distance. Even though the population of Didimtu and Laga Tafo is within a range that deserves the establishment of a health institution since GTF started intervention in that area, no such infrastructure has been established. This has necessitated the establishment of the health Post by GTF in collaboration with concerned stakeholders. The PHCU has undertaken primary health activities like treating common illness, providing family planning, community and awareness creation.
GTF Response to Harmful Traditional Practices
For the last two decades, Gudina Tumsa Foundation (GTF) has been working to improve the health and well-being of the Karayu people in Fantalle, Ethiopia. It found that women were at a high risk of getting HIV/AIDS due to Harmful Traditional Practices (HTPs). To understand what was going on, GTF had to take its first step. It carried out a baseline survey which indicated that the prevalence of HTPs in the area was high. Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) is one such practice known for causing intense pain and permanent injury as 86% of surveyed Karayyu women could testify.
Motivated by the high risk of HIV/AIDS associated with FGM and other HTPs, as well as the lasting physical and psychological problems they cause, GTF launched a three-year project aimed at reducing their prevalence and improving the overall quality of life for the Karayu people. The Fantalle Harmful Traditional Practice Reduction Project successfully educated thousands of community members, leaders, and traditional practitioners about the dangers of HIV/AIDS and its link to FGM. Additionally, circumcisers, women, and community leaders received training in alternative income generation activities, gender issues, and family planning.
The Project’s main objective was to deliver effective messages on the dangers of HIV/AIDS transmission through FGM and other HTPs, as well as the possible physical, mental, and social harm they lead to. This strategy turned out to be fruitful. Ultimately, the project was able to achieve its aim of improving general health and well-being. There was a considerable rise in the rate at which families discontinued all forms of dangerous HTPs with a sharp decline in FGM practices to only 2%.
School feeding
During the need assessment conducted in the year 2021 at Bishoftu town, it was discovered that school-based feeding was one of the major needs of the community and district government. As a result, GTF established the Bishoftu Children and Women Empowerment Project (BiCWEP) to address the four major felt needs of the target communities of Bishoftu town.
According to data collected from Bishoftu Town Education Office, it showed that lack of school feeding and other related factors resulted in high school dropouts from year to year. For instance, in 2020 alone, about 1,800 school dropouts were recorded due to different reasons like lack of food, poor family economic status, early marriage, lack of knowledge, child labor, etc. The lack of school-based feeding initiatives has worsened the situation in general for Bishoftu town and that of Millennium Primary School in particular as more than 200 children were received from internally displaced people (IDP) from the Somali region in 2017. Therefore, the initiative behind the school feeding program of GTF is to improve school enrollment and decrease/avoid school dropouts because of lack of food by providing food for students at school thereby improving their nutritional status through the provision of a balanced diet.
- Over the last three years, the School Feeding Program has provided breakfast and lunch to 1,116 students and 20 teachers, relieving families of the burden of providing meals and significantly reducing dropout rates. This initiative has also contributed to improved academic performance and the overall health of the students.
- It has been reported that school attendance has been improved and school dropouts reduced as compared to the previous year’s performances. The rate of school drop-outs reduced from 16 students down to 2 students when compared to last year’s academic performance.
GTF Lifesaving Initiatives
A temporary care center for this purpose was identified and provided from Bishoftu town, Biftu kebele. GTF has conducted many renovation activities that include: cleaning and greening the compound, equipping it with essential materials (Beds, tables, mattresses, etc.), and Kitchen equipment for the women and children center. Human resources allocated. The official launching of the women and children’s care center has been conducted on 01 June 2022.
Under the Women & Children Care development initiative, Food, psychological advice, post-natal, medical support, and provision of clothes are some of the services the beneficiaries received at our care center. GTF has provided support to 46 individuals, including 13 women with their children and 13 victimized girls, forced to flee their homes due to diverse forms of abuse, including sexual assault, child labor, attempted sexual violence, physical attacks, and other forms of mistreatment, and 7 abandoned neonates/children.