Outreach Centres
Poverty, lack of roads and the vast size of Ethiopia have combined to make it difficult for women to reach the hospital in Addis Ababa.
For some years surgical teams visited regional centres to operate on fistula patients, but since 2006 four outreach centres (mini fistula hospitals) have been established and a fifth is under construction.
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| Map of Ethiopia showing the five selected towns. |
The centres are placed at strategic locations around the country. Already the number of operations performed at the outreach centres is comparable in aggregate to the number performed at the base hospital in Addis Ababa. The base hospital is critical to the success of the outreach centres in terms of training, staffing and financial and administrative support, and as a place to which patients with severe complications can be referred.
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| Dr Andrew Browning |
Bahir Dar
This town is situated on the southern tip of Lake Tana, the source of the Blue Nile. The Ministry of Health gave land within the grounds of the regional hospital for the new centre and Mr Varnero, who has done most of the construction work for the hospital in Addis Ababa in recent years, gave the buildings in memory of his father.Under the leadership of Dr Andrew Browning, an Australian, about 700 fistula operations a year are now being performed. The centre also provides instruction in safe motherhood and treats expectant mothers who are at risk. As in Addis Ababa, patients are also given training in literacy.
Mekele This town, the capital of Tigray region, is situated 750 kms north of Addis Ababa. The region, with a population of 5million, has only three gynaecologists/obstetricians. The new centre, a thirty-bed hospital with an operating theatre, service rooms and a counselling room for at-risk expectant mothers, was paid for by donations from Australia. Dr Melaku Abriha is the surgeon in charge. About 200 fistula operations are carried out each year.
Yirga Alem This town is situated to the south of Addis Ababa in the Sidoma Region, which has 14m people. As at Bahir Dar, the centre is situated in the grounds of the regional hospital. It was funded mainly from Norway, and Dr Einar, a Norwegian, is the resident specialist. The twenty-bed hospital, which was opened in November 2006, now treats about 300 patients a year.
Harar This town is east of Addis Ababa in a predominantly Muslim population. The new fistula centre, which is headed by Dr Yifru, received its first patients in 2008. Only a small number of fistula patients have been coming to the hospital for treatment, which was the experience of other outreach centres when they first opened. A public health officer has been employed to raise awareness of the opportunity for women with a fistula to seek treatment.
Metu This town is situated to the west of Addis Ababa near the Sudanese border. The mobile medical team from the Addis Ababa Fistula Hospital has been visiting the area for a number of years to do fistula surgery in the local regional hospital. Now the hospital authorities have provided land for a specialist fistula unit. It is hoped to complete the buildings by early in 2010.