Partnership Seeks to Strengthen Ethiopian Public Health System

    WASHINGTON, July 14 /EMWNews/ -- The U.S. Agency for

International Development (USAID) has awarded a $50 million cooperative

agreement to U.S.-based Pathfinder International to fund a five-year

program that will make sustainable improvements to key family health

services and planning in Ethiopia.



    The project will work in selected districts at national, regional,

district and community levels to improve maternal, newborn and child

health. It will operate largely in support of Ethiopia's health extension

program, training outreach workers to make services better and more

available. The project will undertake efforts to provide child health

services including immunization, improved access to nutrition and clean

water, vitamin A distribution, treatment of diarrheal disease and

pneumonia, and education on safe birthing practices and newborn care.



    The program will also address a lack of family planning services in

Ethiopia--apparent from the U.S.-based Demographic and Health Survey, which

is widely considered the gold standard for health data in Ethiopia and many

countries around the world. The survey indicates that the average Ethiopian

man or woman would prefer to have 4.0 children, while the actual average is

5.4. Furthermore, 34 percent of married women in Ethiopia want to wait at

least two years between births or stop childbearing entirely, but are not

using contraception. The new program will respond to this need by training

nurses and community workers on family planning methods and by offering a

range of contraceptives.



    In addition to supporting better maternal, newborn and child health

across the country, the program also aims to ease population growth rates,

and thereby alleviate the economic strain on Ethiopian families and a

dwindling food supply.



    For more information about USAID and its programs in Ethiopia, visit

http://www.usaid.gov.



    The American people, through the U.S. Agency for International

Development, have provided economic and humanitarian assistance worldwide

for nearly 50 years.



    CONTACT: USAID Public Information, 202-712-4810