Ethiopia is a low-income country with a population of more than 80 million. Over the past decade, the government of Ethiopia has made great strides in improving access to health care to fight communicable diseases and meet the Millennium Development Goals. However, the country has suffered from many years of attrition of highly trained physicians to the Western world. The country is currently suffering from a poor health infrastructure compacted by a rise in non-communicable diseases. The doctor: patient ratio in Ethiopia is just 1 physician for every 30,000 people.
As a diaspora organization, People to People stands uniquely poised to undertake meaningful development work in Ethiopia and help to address the many challenges faced by its resilient people, including:
- Expediting the human resource development in the area health sciences by joining the local effort to weld theory and practice in creating highly qualified and effective professionals;
- Coordinating and facilitating infusion of needed resources, knowledge and skills for transformation and strengthening of institutions created to develop train and professionals in the field of health sciences and allied fields ;
- Assisting international organizations, academia and civil societies to form linkages with institutions of higher learning in Ethiopia, and garner support for local programs and institution building from these and other sources;
- Establishing and maintaining a network of organizations to engage in international discussion forum aimed at facilitating the sharing of best practices and information as well as transferring skills and technology to Ethiopia in the area of medicine and allied fields;
- Promoting indigenous and authentic solutions to challenges faced by local institutions of higher learning;
- Promoting awareness of the benefits of preventive health care services.