Awassa, Ethiopia - From construction site to operating room

Awassa Doctors Become Paediatric Surgeons

Since 2017, the Children's Surgery Foundation has been active in Awassa, Ethiopia.

Our goal is to sustainably improve pediatric surgical care in a region where millions of children do not have access to specialized procedures.

The focus of our work is the establishment of an independent pediatric surgical department at the Hawassa University Comprehensive Specialized Hospital (HUCSH). The hospital is located approximately 280 kilometers south of Addis Ababa and serves a catchment area of about 18 million people. Together with the Ethiopian pediatric surgeon Dr. Wondmagegn Gizaw, we are developing structures there that will ensure high-quality surgical care for children in the long term.

In addition to direct support for complex operations, we place particular emphasis on training. Together with Dr. Gizaw, we train young doctors in pediatric surgery. These specialists will pass on their knowledge and experience themselves in the future – thus laying the groundwork for sustainable medical development.

In this way, we achieve the healing of individual children as well as a strengthening of local competence. The local team is advanced in its independence, and lasting prospects for local medical care are created.

There are very few specialized pediatric surgeons in the entire country for the medical care of children (estimates from experts range between 20 and 30). Many children who urgently need surgery are treated by general surgeons – or receive no help at all.

A single procedure can cost up to 50 times the average annual income of a household, which is just under €200. There is no state health insurance, and many families cannot afford the costs.

The consequences are dramatic: many children have to live with disabilities for the rest of their lives – or die young. The "under-5 mortality rate" is high in Ethiopia. According to rough estimates, about 12% of all deaths of children under 5 years of age are due to diseases that could be treated surgically.

The region is characterized by poverty and inadequate medical care. Many children do not receive the treatment they urgently need. Together with Dr. Gizaw, we are therefore training young doctors to become pediatric surgeons. They will pass on their knowledge and train new specialists themselves. This creates a sustainable system with a long-term impact.

As an international children's aid organization, we thus achieve more than just healing individual children:

We strengthen local expertise, promote self-reliance, and enable the continuous professional development of local medical personnel.

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