Salute Women by Improving Maternal Health

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By: Samuel M. Gebru (@SMGebru) and Zewdy Awalom (@Zewdy)

March 8, 2012

Today is International Women’s Day, an opportunity for us to celebrate the women worldwide making a positive impact to our families and communities. A United Nations-recognized political awareness holiday, International Women’s Day is aimed at giving attention to the political, economic and social struggles women in our world still face while also celebrating their vast achievements.

Dedicating a day for women reminds us of the challenges women endure and the strength they have. On the occasion of International Women’s Day 2012, we would like to focus on the urgent necessity of our world to focus on improving maternal health.

One third of all births take place at home without the assistance of skilled birth attendants. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 536,000 women die annually due to the lack of proper maternal healthcare. Over 3 million stillbirths and 3.7 million newborn deaths occur each year. Tragically, 99% of these maternal and child deaths occur in developing countries like Ethiopia and the vast majority of these deaths are preventable.

At the Millennium Summit in 2000, 192 United Nations member states, including Ethiopia, adopted the United Nations Millennium Declaration, pledging to “spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject poverty and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty.” Improving maternal heath, the fifth goal of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), includes achieving universal access to reproductive health.

Quality maternal health services are fundamental to achieving successful births. In developing countries, where the urban-rural divide is greater, rural women have even less access to proper maternal health resulting in even more deaths.

These largely preventable tragedies must be addressed through improving the quality of and expanding the access to healthcare and education. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), over 25,000 women die annually due to pregnancy-related complications in Ethiopia. More than 500,000 women suffer annually due to complications caused by pregnancy and childbirth.

The Ethiopian Global Initiative (EGI) is committed to improving maternal healthcare. EGI’s Midwives Scholarship Fund aims to fully fund the education of eight students at the Hamlin College of Midwives (HCM) in Ethiopia, a local private college accredited with the Ministries of Education and Health. HCM’s four-year programs grant students a Bachelor of Science in Midwifery. At the core of HCM’s work is the prevention of childbirth complications and deaths through education.

63% of illiterate young people globally, about 86,310,000 people, are women. Because many women are uninformed about their maternal health and legal rights these issues go unnoticed. By educating a new class of midwives in Ethiopia, HCM aims to improve the local healthcare workforce and keep Ethiopia’s human capital in country.

EGI aims to help women empower themselves. Educating women to become skilled midwives and deploying them to rural Ethiopia preventing childbirth complications and deaths is an enormous task that requires your generosity and support.

Join us and celebrate women daily. No woman should suffer during childbirth. Donate today and share our message with your friends.

Samuel M. Gebru is the Chairman and President of the Ethiopian Global Initiative. Zewdy Awalom is an up-and-coming R&B singer whose voice has been compared to that of Beyonce Knowles.

Reducing Maternal Health Disparities

By: Bethel Tsehai, M.P.H. (@bethel_tsehai)
January 2, 2012

The most basic of human rights, the right to health and life, are greatly disproportionate in developing countries such as Ethiopia. Particularly in the area of maternal health, the number of preventable maternal deaths, stillbirths, newborn deaths, and birth related injuries are astounding. To put things into perspective, it is estimated that more than 500,000 Ethiopian women and girls will suffer from injuries caused by complications during pregnancy and childbirth each year.

The issue of maternal health is so great that improving maternal health is one of the Millennium Development Goals for 2015. In order to address many of the preventable birth and pregnancy related injuries and deaths, the World Health Organization recommends that countries work towards the goal of having skilled birth attendants, such as midwifes, who have received formal education in the area of pregnancy and childbirth be present at every birth.

The Hamlin College of Midwives in Ethiopia has taken this recommendation to heart and developed a program in midwifery. Unlike students attending vocational schools, the students of Hamlin College of Midwives will be given a formal education and graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Midwifery. With a population of nearly 80 million in Ethiopia, there are only 1,000 qualified midwives. Despite this daunting challenge, the College is committed to educating midwives and equipping them with the tools needed to care for and educate women in the area of maternal health. 

The Midwives Scholarship Fund (MSF) project under EGI is working towards raising funds to support the education of at least eight midwives attending the Hamlin College of Midwives. Through supporting the education of midwives, MSF is taking part in becoming a part of the solution in maternal health.

In light of the holiday season, I encourage you to support our efforts by donating or raising funds to educate midwives. Well trained and skilled midwives are the key to reducing the disparities facing women in Ethiopia today.

Bethel Tsehai, M.P.H. is the Project Manager of the Midwives Scholarship Fund at the Ethiopian Global Initiative. 

Supporting the Women of Ethiopia

December 31, 2011

Dear friend,

I hope you are as excited as I am by what 2012 may bring for all of us. Wouldn't it be amazing for all women in Ethiopia to be guaranteed their right to safe childbirth?

This goal is already being undertaken at the Hamlin College of Midwives.

Our partners at Hamlin Fistula International have committed themselves to eliminate the number of women suffering from childbirth injuries by becoming the center for training, research, prevention and care of obstetric fistula. Maternal health is an important target that the United Nations set in the Millennium Development Goals for 2015.

Right now, you have an opportunity to be part of the world's vision for better maternal healthcare. We at EGI have committed to work with our partners at Hamlin Fistula International to fully fund the education of eight midwives at the Hamlin College of Midwives. By earning a Bachelor of Science in Midwifery, these midwives will return to rural Ethiopian communities to prevent childbirth injuries and increase awareness, therefore saving millions of lives.

Instead of sending these students abroad, they are being taught in Ethiopia at a recognized institution of higher learning. Our Midwives Scholarship Fund's goal is to raise $140,000. Can I count on you to support the women of Ethiopia?

Please make a meaningful contribution today and close 2011 by helping send a midwifery student to college.

Best wishes this holiday season!

Sincerely,

Samuel Gebru
President, Ethiopian Global Initiative

Celebrating the Midwives that make Healthy Mothers

An Ethiopian midwife visits a pregnant
patient at home. Ethiopia. (Source)

By: Abel Tadesse

Thursday, May 5, 2011

The Ethiopian Global Initiative (EGI) continues its efforts in meeting the objectives outlined in the Midwives Scholarship Fund (MSF). On this day May 5, 2011 the MSF team echoes its support for the celebration of International Day of the Midwife, recognizing all midwives throughout the globe.

Midwives play critical role during and after pregnancy to the mother as well as to the newborn and family. They are key to reaching out to the communities especially in developing countries where there is limited access to health care professionals.

As we celebrate the International Day of the Midwife, we need to make a note that there is a momentous amount of work that needs to be done surrounding access to education to midwives and other healthcare professionals.

The World Health Organization Assistant Director, Dr. Flavia Bustreo, released a statement today addressing the importance of strengthening the midwives workforce throughout the world. Dr. Bustreo further explained that it is no question that we need to accelerate our focus to reinforce the need to meet the Millennium Development Goals Four and Five as the statistics show a high prevalence of maternal and child mortality rate; 350,000 women and 3.6 million newborns die each year globally.

EGI is working to support MDGs Four and Five through the Midwives Scholarship Fund. Through this project, we plan to provide full scholarships to students at the Hamlin College of Midwives in Ethiopia, where students will complete a four-year program to obtain a Bachelor of Science in Midwifery.

There is no doubt that this project will increase education access to midwives, mothers, families and communities throughout Ethiopia and in result a decrease in maternal and child deaths.

Abel Tadesse holds a Master of Health Sciences from George Mason University. He is Project Manager of the EGI Midwives Scholarship Fund.

Childbirth Injuries and Midwifery: Speaking From the Heart

Doctors Catherine and Reginald Hamlin
during their early days in Ethiopia.

By: Abel Tadesse

March 10, 2011

March 8th is celebrated as International Women’s Day. Most of us celebrate the women in our lives daily. Whether it is calling our mothers to say thank you or expressing the love we have for our sisters, we all have different forms to show our appreciation to the women in our lives. As we celebrated and recognized women’s day, for many mothers in developed countries, pregnancy is the most exciting time as they look forward to growing life within their body and then bringing it to the world.

This is not the case in many developing countries like Ethiopia especially in rural areas where a mother-to-be can experience an agonizing weeklong labor all by herself. I recently watched a trailer for a documentary called A Walk to Beautiful where a woman expressed how her pregnancy, which led to a weeklong labor, ruined her marriage as it resulted in a childbirth injury called obstetric fistula. The husband noticed her condition, which includes loosing functions of the bladder, so he decided to leave her to marry another woman. It was unbearable to watch the complete trailer, and note this is not even the whole documentary! I kept on telling myself that these are the mothers and sisters of my own in Ethiopia. What was even worse about seeing the horrors of obstetric fistula is that this childbirth injury was eradicated from the U.S. in 1895.

EGI President Samuel M. Gebru (in suit) poses with Dr.
Catherine Hamlin (right) in August 2006 at the Addis
Ababa Fistula Hospital.

For me, understanding the condition of fistula really is an eye opener and I believe individuals like you and I can take actions together to eradicate this traumatic childbirth injury in Ethiopia as well as other developing countries. Using our own skills, we can make pregnancy and childbirth "a joyful experience" as Dr. Catherine Hamlin, founder of the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals of Ethiopia, defined it. For me, my action first started when I joined the Ethiopian Global Initiative, fully supporting the Midwives Scholarship Fund. The mission of the project is to improve access to healthcare education, specifically midwifery as it is found to be a sustainable solution to improve the areas of maternal and child health. The success of this program will help build the foundation stronger, and further increase the amount of Ethiopia’s healthcare professionals. The project is raising funds to sponsor eight women at the Hamlin College of Midwives in Ethiopia.

It may be difficult for one to fully commit to volunteering as we all have our own personal endeavors, but I am a strong believer that the smallest contribution counts for the success of the EGI Midwives Scholarship Fund. In the long run, the eradication of obstetric fistula, turning a woman's worst experience during childbirth to a joyful celebration, is a goal for us when each International Women’s Day comes by.

Just as I have joined, helping expand the Ethiopian Global Initiative’s mission in expanding education for health, I invite you and your friends to do so.

Visit the EGI Midwives Scholarship Fund webpage by clicking here. Abel Tadesse holds a Master in Health Sciences degree from George Mason University and is Project Manager of the EGI Midwives Scholarship Fund. 

New Leadership for Ethiopia

By: Samuel M. Gebru

After returning from my third trip to Ethiopia in 2004, I was encouraged by the growth and development in Ethiopia but equally saddened by the severity of poverty throughout the country. It felt like for every one step made forward, two were made backwards. It was not until December 2004 when watching the Oprah Winfrey Show’s special program on the work of Dr. Catherine Hamlin of the Fistula Hospitals of Ethiopia that I decided to get involved in making a difference in my native land.

Its now nearly six years since learning about Dr. Catherine Hamlin and the wonderful work at the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals of Ethiopia. This network of six hospitals, with its flagship in Addis Ababa, serves as the world’s exclusive center of fistula repair surgeries.

With six years of experience in community organizing, I have come to quickly learn that Ethiopia has an abundance of untapped leadership within the country and its diaspora, waiting to be unleashed. For a country like Ethiopia, a country that is foolishly labeled as being part of the “third world” as if there are multiple worlds we live in, developing a strong generation of leaders is tantamount to nation building. After the Ethiopian civil war, Ethiopia had to rebuild itself. Largely, the country remains in its rebuilding phase and has a long way to go.

While strides in access to education and health have been made, there is a lack of a strong emphasis of leadership skills and critical thinking in Ethiopia. African countries, rightfully so, tend to focus much on developing the technical side of academics and unfortunately that means that core entrepreneurial qualities are being left out. A nation twice the size of the U.S. State of Texas and Africa’s second most populous country, Ethiopia has just as many problems as opportunities.

Through working at the Ethiopian Global Initiative and other Ethiopia-related endeavors, I have learned much from my peers: young Ethiopians who are poised to become the next generation of leaders. Much negativity has been said about Ethiopian youth; from not knowing enough to meddling in affairs that don’t regard them, Ethiopian youth are discouraged from getting involved in the political, social and economic discourse of their native country.

Young Ethiopians around the world are expressing their interest in getting involved in charting a new course for Ethiopia. This is a revolution; I’m convinced of it. On my recent trip in 2008 to Ethiopia I jokingly mentioned to some government officials that although the previous Ethiopian revolutions were fought with firearms, my generation’s revolution would be that of ideas and solutions, a revolution fought with pens and papers.

There needs to be much more of an emphasis on Ethiopian youth leadership, and the proper development and retention of that leadership from generation to generation. In a matter of one or two decades, Ethiopia’s current political, social and economic leaders will all be left for the history books and if the young Ethiopians of today are not prepared enough to chart the new course for Ethiopia, we will spend years, if not decades, trying to sort out a mess that could have been easily prevented.

From the public to the private sector, older Ethiopians should be promoting genuine leadership from the youth. Government in Ethiopia on all levels should be working with youth, particularly on policy pertaining education, employment, health and youth affairs. On the university and college campuses, Ethiopian students should be encouraged to be thoughtful and critical of the status quo and challenge one another to map a course for new solutions. In the economy, youth should be encouraged by all to create jobs and markets instead of waiting for the government to assign them positions. With a very high unemployment rate, both the public and private sectors should implement creative ideas for job creation.

Coursing a new leadership for Ethiopia will take time. Ethiopia is a work in progress, and with the right amount of initiative and support, youth should continue to ensure that the progress of the past becomes the successes of the future. The young Ethiopians that are being outsourced daily to foreign countries should be kept in Ethiopia and given positions of leadership to creatively chart a new future for Ethiopia.

Combining the social and intellectual capital of the country’s young generation will prove very useful particularly with economic prosperity. All it takes is the commitment to action and not words.

The author is the President of the Ethiopian Global Initiative, an innovative international organization that aims to be the hub of solutions to transform Ethiopia by combining the social and intellectual capital of students and young professionals. To get involved with the work of EGI please email action@ethgi.org and follow @ethgi on twitter.

Ethiopia: Youth, the Hamlins and Commitment to Action

By: Samuel M. Gebru

Friday, June 11, 2010

One of the things I like about community and youth organizing is that I get the opportunity to really connect with people individually and hear what concerns and suggestions they have to improve our communities. Being born in Sudan, raised in the United States and of Ethiopian origin, I belong to many different communities.

When I established the Ethiopian American Youth Initiative, I envisioned bringing dynamic, open-minded and highly motivated youth, students and professionals together. The Ethiopian Diaspora community is highly intoxicated by very superficial things that, at the end of the day, don’t really matter. Whether at home or abroad, we Ethiopians have shown ourselves to be a community that is easily divided, and sometimes it appears—whether real or not—that we are more divided than united.

In December 2004, after watching the Oprah Winfrey Show’s program on obstetric fistula in Ethiopia, I became inspired by the strong commitment to community service displayed by Drs. Reginald and Catherine Hamlin, co-founders of the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. Reginald passed away in 1993 but Catherine, now in her 80s, still lives in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia with the same commitment that drove her to Ethiopia with her late husband in 1959. The Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital has now evolved into a network of 6 hospitals in Ethiopia in Addis Ababa, Mekelle, Bahar Dar, Harrar, Metu and Yirgalem. They are collectively known as the Hamlin Fistula Hospitals in Ethiopia. In 2009, the hospitals celebrated Catherine Hamlin’s 50th year in Ethiopia.

To think that a foreigner commit over 50 years of dedicated service and hard work to Ethiopia is nothing less than amazing. Learning about the tragedy of obstetric fistula and the energy of the Hamlins not only inspired me but it embarrassed me. As a 13-year-old in December 2004, I began to question why Ethiopians in the Diaspora were not showing the same level of commitment non-Ethiopians demonstrated to Ethiopia. I also began to question why our community is more concerned about ethnic pride, who occupies the Menelik Palace and infesting every aspect of our lives with politics than whether 81 million Ethiopians have access to clean water and if the 6 million Ethiopian orphans will find new kind and loving people to call parents. Out of this embarrassment came inspiration and my commitment to act.

I founded the Ethiopian Team after convening a meeting of 13 Ethiopian youth in the Boston area on April 2, 2005. Once I shared the tragedies of obstetric fistula and the story of the Hamlins, the others were equally inspired to join the efforts. We became the first Ethiopian youth effort in Boston. An entire community was educated and inspired due to our work. The Ethiopian Team, in less than a year, raised enough funds to sponsor 11 women for fistula-repair surgery at the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital. Our youngest member was in 6th grade, our oldest was in 12th grade and I was in 8th grade.

The Ethiopian American Youth Initiative is the Ethiopian Team’s successor. EAYI was formed in 2006 and aimed to bring open-minded youth and student leaders together to really get things done. The Initiative is hosting its first annual conference in 14 days in Washington, D.C. The 2010 EAYI Conference will be about brainstorming proactive and realistic solutions to the everyday problems in Ethiopia. It will also be about finding solutions to the problems in our local communities within the Diaspora. This gathering will be of student and youth leaders that further our collective and individual commitment to act.

I call upon Ethiopians and non-Ethiopians to embrace the spirit of community service of the Hamlins in the same manner it inspired me to respond to the call for action 81 million Ethiopians have silently put.

Now, I am 18-years-old and am still embarrassed, inspired and committed to act.

Samuel M. Gebru is the President of the Ethiopian American Youth Initiative.

You may read more of Samuel's articles on his personal blog.