Making a Difference

Over the last ten years, WVE enhanced health service coverage and utilization in rural Ethiopia by constructing; 1 Hospital, 51 health centres, 203 health posts, 42 additional blocks; provision medical equipment and essential drugs for 733 health facilities; trained 9,451 health professionals on maternal and child health issues, and 718,935 community members on MCH to increase family planning, ANC, PNC and child health services uptake. As a result:

* WV impacted the lives of 4,081.500 mothers and under five children directly and 13,306,000 community members indirectly; and

* Provided sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene services to an estimated one million people

Moreover, best practices of integrating birth spacing and nutrition messaging to improve demand for modern contraception and reduce malnutrition in Tigray, Ethiopia resulted in:

* Underweight children reduced from 46% to 21.5%

* Uptake of modern contraceptive users improved from 56.6% to 73%

Leman Health Center, which is found in Tiya area Leman Woreda, was constructed by World Vision Ethiopia’s (WVE) support in 1997.  Earlier,  there was only a small health post in the entire Woreda which couldn't meet the needs of its nearly 35,000 residents.  As a result, community members had to go some 75 kilometers away to receive health services. But many couldn’t afford to pay for transportation, and many mothers were dying in childbirth.  After the construction, WVE further supported the Center by supplying and furnishing it with necessary equipment, medicines, and HIV test kits. WVE also provided training for the health professionals on topics like voluntary counseling and testing, nutrition, etc.

“I am very happy for delivering in this health center.  Because it helped me a lot. If I had delivered the baby at home, I would have lost too much blood. So I recommend all women to give birth at health centers,” says Tiru.