Laura
Macpherson, Grants Officer at THET, shares her impressions following a recent
monitoring visit to health partnership projects in Ethiopia, which are funded
through the DFID/THET Health Partnership Scheme (HPS).
In June I travelled with my colleague
Emily Burn (Evaluation and Learning Coordinator) and two DFID representatives
to monitor the progress of seven health partnerships in Ethiopia. We anticipated
that a monitoring trip to Ethiopia promised insights into an exciting health
context and would allow us to verify some examples of truly successful
partnership working.
We were not proved wrong. A highlight
for me was our visit to Jimma University Hospital (JUH), which partners with
the Association of Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (AAGBI) and the
Association of Anaesthetists of Uganda (AAU) to deliver the SAFE Paediatric Anaesthesia in East and
Central Africa project. Faced with the reality of extremely basic
anaesthetic equipment, very few anaesthetists, a lack of continuing
professional development opportunities, only five ICU beds, compounded by a recent
increase in road traffic accidents across the country, the senior residents who
had received training through this project have been inspired to make a difference
and are working against the odds at JUH. As Tirunesh Gemechu, Anaesthesia Resident
states:
‘It is very challenging, and it would be much easier for me to go through
other departments and specialise in them. There are very few trainers, very
limited equipment to practice, and very few consultants with knowledge to pass
down.’
 |
| Tirunesh Gemechu, Anaesthesia Resident. (Photo: Emily Burn) |
They commented that they are noticing
a real difference in the way they treat patients on a daily basis, are now much
more confident in caring for newborns in particular, and are eager to share
their learning with colleagues.
‘The course has filled a major gap I had in paediatric anaesthesia. I
am now more confident to practice that. I was able to meet people who can help
me get more learning and more experiences and even more rotations outside of
Ethiopia. We were trained with international participants so I could learn from
them and hopefully learn from them in the future.’ Says Tirunesh.
The project is also contributing to a
new movement across the country that is seeing more attention being given to
the specialty of anaesthesia, which is clearly much-needed.
The visit has reiterated the value of
visiting projects in person. This really allows you to appreciate the numerous
and varied benefits to health partnership working that are difficult to capture
without discussion. I count myself lucky to have seen first-hand the impact
that all of the projects are making across the country.
