Ethiopia is one of the founding members of the United Nations. Ethiopia’s United Nations system is comprehensive and includes development and humanitarian assistance. Since the nation became a founding member of the United Nations, there has been long and beneficial cooperation in the fields of development, peace and security, and humanitarian relief (Bergen et al., 2019). The World Health Organization works closely with the Ethiopian government as part of the superior United Nations system. The signing of the Country Cooperation Strategy 2021–2025 confirmed this. Ethiopia’s healthcare system and infrastructure have continued to develop as a result.
WHO has called for a comprehensive approach involving dialogue and complementarities across programs, disciplines, and sectors to offer health care leadership and improve the health and well-being of every Ethiopian. All Ethiopians will benefit from the World Health Organization’s (WHO) capacity to tap into the collective intelligence of the whole world to give practical and unique solutions. The WHO continues collaborating with United Nations agencies and other international and bilateral development partners to ensure this happens (World Health Organization, 2021). The Sustainable Development Goals, the Ten-Year Perspective Development Plan, Health Sector Transformation Plan II, the United Nations Development Assistance Framework 2020–2025, and the Thirteenth General Programme of Work of the World Health Organization serve as the overarching frameworks for the collaborative effort. The World Health Organization is a learning organization, so it uses the “triple billion” goals in the General Programme of Work to measure how well it is doing in Ethiopia and change its methods to have the most significant impact.
There was a substantial rise in the training capacity required to move from physicians to non-physician clinicians, such as health officers and emergency surgical officers, in Ethiopia. There was insufficient space in schools to teach additional physicians and nurses. Using non-teaching hospitals as training sites has enabled the expansion of this capacity with the assistance of United Nations financing. This strategy was eventually adopted for the teaching of other cadres. Training a growing number of health officers has resulted in a remarkable increase in the health officer-to-population ratio. Ethiopia has just 1379 midwives as opposed to the target of having two in each of the 3516 health facilities by 2015 (Legesse Legesse et al., 2021). Utilizing UN funds, the government has launched an accelerated midwifery training program in 15 regional health science colleges, with a concentration on nurses as training candidates, to take advantage of the vast supply of nurses in the labor market. After the first three years of the midwifery program, 3,200 nurses were sent out into the field.
The United Nations provides Ethiopians with the resources necessary to live long, healthy lives with access to decent healthcare. Improved health system resilience protects health, mitigates the effects of crises, and reduces mortality and morbidity from infectious and non-communicable diseases and inadequate reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health and nutrition (World Health Organization, 2021). In addition, it guarantees that more individuals have access to universal health coverage through enhancing harmonization, coordination, and the mobilization of resources for health and development. The conventional three-tiered system of primary, secondary, and tertiary health care facilities continues to be the norm for delivering health care. More than 90 percent of the population now has access to primary health care due to the Health Extension Programme and other measures conducted throughout the years (Bergen et al., 2019). Changes and strategic initiatives have similarly strengthened the secondary and tertiary levels of care. Numerous programs have been established to assist individuals in affording necessary medical treatment. Through a program called “exemptions,” high-impact interventions are given for free. The government pays for more than 80% of the costs of running public health facilities. The Community-Based Health Insurance scheme is in place, and all health care costs for the poor are covered by not charging user fees or insurance scheme premiums.
This study proves that the United Nations has substantially improved the medical system of Ethiopia. By raising funds for the government of Ethiopia, for instance, the UN has helped the nation increase the number of health officers via the many available training programs. Consequently, the country can reduce its scarcity of healthcare professionals, resulting in general healthcare enhancements. Therefore, Ethiopia’s desire to help the United Nations has increased, and the nation is always eager to support the UN in whatever form it may take.
References
World Health Organization. (2021). Country cooperation strategy for WHO and Oman: 2021-2025.
Bergen, N., Ruckert, A., Kulkarni, M. A., Abebe, L., Morankar, S., & Labonté, R. (2019). Subnational health management and health equity advancement: Ethiopia’s case study. Global health research and policy, 4(1), 1-13.
Legesse, H., Seyoum, H., Abdo, A., Ameha, A., Abdulber, S., Sylla, M., & Tekle, E. (2019). Supply chain management for community-based newborn care in Rural Ethiopia: challenges, strategies implemented and recommendations. Ethiopian Medical Journal, (3).
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