Our work in Ethiopia
Save the Children's health and nutrition programs aims to see Ethiopian children are healthy and well nourished. The programs focus on newborns, children under the age of five, adolescents and mothers and their families in urban and rural settings. Primary intervention areas include:
Newborn Health: Save the Children is engaged in a project known as Saving Newborn Lives (SNL), funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. This project seeks solutions to major killers of newborns namely infections and low birth weight.. it is collaborative research project with JSI and other stakeholders and will be implemented in selected areas of SNNP and Oromia. It will examine the reduction of neonatal mortality that can be achieved through treatment of newborn infection by health extension workers as compared to a well implemented current policy. SNL catalyzes the scale-up of an effective package of newborn health interventions that can be implemented at the national level through its integration into the existing Ministry of Health (MOH) Maternal, Newborn and Child Health (MNCH) program.
School Health and Nutrition (SHN): Save the Children's SHN interventions can be summarized by the phrase "Learn to be Healthy, and Healthy to Learn." This project, originally funded with Sponsorship resources, started as pilot program in five community schools and currently scale up to 53 schools will be scaled up in 1800 schools across the country through a U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded contract. Interventions focus on improving the quality of education related to health, nutrition and HIV/AIDS prevention and to increase the capacity of partners at the community level to manage the program. With school children an essentially "captive audience," certain simple and effective health interventions - de-worming, micronutrient supplementation and health education - can improve the health status of children and their attendance and performance in school. Program activities include school construction, improving the school environment (latrines, sports fields, water points, etc.) and delivery of a relevant health education package for identified health problems among students.
Child Survival (CS-23): This program, funded by USAID, is designed to deliver evidence-based curative interventions for common childhood infections (pneumonia, diarrhea, and malaria, with the potential to add neonatal sepsis) that together account for up to three-quarters of Under-5 mortality in Ethiopia. This project aims to improve access and availability, quality and demand at scale, and to strengthen the social and policy enabling environment for child survival activities in Ethiopia. By integrating interventions into a currently existing Ministry of Health - Health Extension Package already being taken to regional scale in SNNPR, the project's beneficiary population will be significant.
Supporting Children for Accelerated Impact: This project is funded by American Idol resources managed through the Charity Projects Entertainment Funds and focuses on Under 5 Child Health and Nutrition and Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD). This program is designed to implement two different types of projects which work on activities aimed at reducing mortality among children; early childhood development programs, and school-based health and nutrition programs. The goal of the program is to reduce morbidity and mortality in children under age 5 who have been orphaned or made more vulnerable by HIV/AIDS. Key preventive and curative health and nutrition services will be improved by enhancing the skills of health workers related to management of common childhood illness, improving the health system, and by implementing and improving household and community practices to identify and manage severe acute malnutrition. The health and nutrition component will target children in Awassa and Butajira towns of the Southern Nations Nationalities and People's Region (SNNPR).
Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health Program: This portion of Save the Children's portfolio targets high-risk youth in public high schools, primary schools and an out-of school youth center in Addis Ababa and Oromiya to ensure that young women and men have access to accurate and culturally-appropriate information, easy access to youth friendly essential services and are empowered to make healthy and positive decisions related to their sexual and reproductive health through combination of intervention that includes youth/ARSH clubs training and edutainment activates; youth friendly services in the health facilities; parents peer education and community awareness and training sessions as well as parents and youth communication skill building activities. This program has demonstrated that it is possible to achieved desired low risk behaviors among the youth in the target areas.
Community-Based Therapeutic Care (CTC): In order to prevent widespread morbidity and mortality related to severe acute malnutrition in children under five, Save the Children has established a Community-based Therapeutic Care (CTC) program. The expected results are increased availability and accessibility of CTC services and essential supplies, increased quality of CTC services, improved knowledge, attitudes and skills of caregivers and acceptance of key CTC services and improve local capacity for rapid response. This initiative is built on lessons learned from a large-scale program implemented in SNNPR from April 2003 through March 2007. This program saved the lives of 22,981 severely malnourished children and strengthened the capacity of local health institutions to manage severe acute malnutrition in children in a sustainable way. Currently, Save the Children is implementing CTC activities in Bona woreda of SNNPR and Denan & Kebridehar woredas of Somali Region focused on improved the use of key health and nutrition services and behaviors in the drought affected communities, while building community capacity to manage health and nutrition emergencies and also respond to other "hot spots" in the region. In Addis Ababa and Oromia, the focus of CTC activities is on saving lives and improving nutritional and clinical outcomes in HIV positive children. Save the Children is implementing a program in this regard that is expected to be a model for nutrition programming in other high HIV prevalence areas of Ethiopia and around the world.