Addis Ababa – To handle gaps in sexual and reproductive healthcare access, widened by the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing humanitarian crises, Ethiopia is reinforcing its health gadget, making these critical services more accessible for women folks and young of us in a long way-off and crisis-affected areas.
A key portion of this effort is promoting self-care, by giving of us the understanding and tools to handle their very maintain sexual and reproductive health via protected, easy and cheap practices for household planning, HIV prevention, cervical most cancers prevention, food device, and maternal, adolescent and formative years health. Functional examples vary from access to contraceptives, being pregnant tests, and HIV self-test kits, all supported by tutorial steering. This also includes self-administration of scientific abortion in line with nationwide legislation, which permits the map below certain circumstances.
With enhance from World Health Organization (WHO), health authorities gain developed the National Self-Care Intervention Guideline, focusing on interventions for women folks, adolescent and youngster health. They gain also integrated self-care and expanded sexual and reproductive health services into key nationwide protection guidelines, including those linked to household planning, protected abortion care, teenage being pregnant slice charge, and sexual and reproductive health responses in humanitarian settings.
Across the nation, health staff are being trained to command of us how to promote these self-care tools. This began with a workshop for 38 public health officers from the Ministry of Health, Regional Health Bureaus and other institutions in June 2024. The initiative became as soon as then expanded to the sub-nationwide stage, equipping 67 health companies and managers with abilities, in October 2024.
“The recommendations and action plan we developed will help us integrate self-care into our existing health services effectively,” said Daniel Nadew, Maternal Child Health desk team lead from Addis Ababa City Health Bureau.
Following the scaling up self-care training, at Kolfe Health Centre in Addis Ababa, one of the pilot facilities, the introduction of self-care services contributed to a significant increase in access to services. In 2024, as part of the family planning service delivery, more than 800 women received over-the-counter combined oral contraceptives, compared with 280 in 2022.
Additionally, 84 women were trained to self-administer a safe and effective injectable contraceptive, known as DMPA, and more than 1000 adolescents were provided condoms after training on correct use.
Moreover, 50 women received self-management of medical abortion services, which included comprehensive training on how and when to use the medication, the correct dose, side effects, possible complications, and guidance on when to get medical help.
“The self-care training has significantly improved my data and abilities in providing comprehensive household planning and abortion care. The vivid classes had been in particular helpful, and I think more assured in my ability to enhance women folks in my community,” said Fatima Belay*, a health employee from Addis Ababa.
Belay * also highlighted the advantages of self-administered injectable contraceptives: “I cherish the benefit and convenience of the self-administering contraceptive, which I’m able to use at dwelling, at my traditional administrative middle, or wherever I’m.”
Amid the humanitarian crises in the northern dwelling of Amhara, WHO and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute trained 30 healthcare companies from 13 health facilities in warfare-affected districts on self-care intervention guidelines.
Following the training, nine facilities provided onsite selfcare orientation for his or her staff which resulted in over 100 women folks and young of us being professional on selfcare for household planning, antenatal care, being pregnant inconvenience indicators, food device, and protected abortion.
Gish Abay Health Centre empowered 120 young of us with abilities for correct condom use and provided protected abortion maintain 35 adolescent girls. Tilili Health Centre broadened the scope of self-care to include HIV self-testing, breast self-examination, being pregnant self-testing, and condom and emergency contraceptive use.
“These interventions significantly benefited the community and contributed to the efforts towards reducing preventable maternal and perinatal deaths. It is going to enable us to reach every mother, new child, youngster, and adolescent in our community who’re severely in need of health services,” said Nadew.
“Ethiopia’s dedication for self-care integration is empowering individuals, especially women folks and young of us, with the understanding and tools for proactive health administration, offering genuinely extensive community convenience and trace savings,” said Dr Owen Kaluwa, WHO Representative in Ethiopia. “WHO is proud to enhance this effort, which significantly improves health outcomes by expanding access to serious sexual and reproductive health services, in particular obligatory in warfare-affected areas.”
*Name changed
