Emergency medicine development in Ethiopia: Challenges, progress and possibilities

Abstract

Ethiopia does not have the facilities, equipment and human resource with the essential skills to support a coordinated emergency medical care system and as such lacks the basic infrastructure for delivering emergency care. The country has made significant improvements in the last two decades, particularly with regard to training of key Emergency Medical personnel. Nevertheless, much remains to be done, and numerous opportunities exist to make additional improvements in both the short and long term. This article provides a historical overview of the development of emergency medicine in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, critically examines the specific challenges faced and presents the various efforts over the past several years by national and international partners trying to address these challenges. It describes what has been achieved and proposes key recommendations for further improvement and scaling-up of Addis Ababa, emergency medical services initiative to other regional states of Ethiopia.