Jhpiego Expands Programs in Ethiopia

By Anne Pfitzer

On a beautiful evening in November, Jhpiego hosted a festive gathering to mark the opening of a new country office in Ethiopia and the arrival of a new Country Director, Ms. Hannah Gibson.

With an increase in the number of programs in the country, Jhpiego moved its location to a larger building in the capital city of Addis Ababa. Country officials, university leaders, local partners and donors joined Jhpiego staff for an evening of authentic Ethiopian cuisine and décor to celebrate its new location.

Jhpiego began working in Ethiopia in 2005 on a small project funded by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) to help seven hospitals prevent infections and mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Since that time, Jhpiego has rapidly expanded its activities and now has more than 70 staff working in program areas including: voluntary counseling and testing, quality improvement of HIV-related clinical services, pre-service education of health professionals, male circumcision, training of community health workers in safe and clean birth, cervical cancer prevention and development of training courses using electronic media. One of Jhpiego’s country programs is the Mother-to-Mother support groups for expectant mothers who are newly diagnosed with HIV. In this program, HIV-positive mothers gather with HIV expectant mothers to counsel them on accepting their status and discuss healthy outcomes for their babies as well as themselves. The office opening event also allowed several mothers’ groups to market wares they had produced.

“Our new offices will allow Jhpiego to increase our valuable work to save the lives of women in Ethiopia,” says Dr. Leslie Mancuso, President and CEO of Jhpiego. “With the support of the Ethiopian government, as well as other partners from the United States and around the world, we have been able to bring some of the world’s most innovative, low-cost solutions to women who need them the most.”