Christmas was a sad day here. I spent the morning operating at the government hospital on a young woman with advanced ovarian cancer. She is still nursing her youngest. There is no place to send her here that has an expert, so she was cared for by the doctor I worked with the last year and myself. The surgery went as well as it could have. She is recovering well and will be able to get chemotherapy. While finishing the surgery, I got called to examine a nine year old that had been raped. Not a Christmas anyone hopes for.
The population of Ethiopia is around 90 million people. There are about 180-190 obstetrician- gynecologists in the entire country. There is not a single gynecologic oncologist. There are 3 or 4 oncologist and a total of 16 beds, yes, 16 beds for the entire country for chemotherapy. The numbers are dismal at best. The OB/GYN that I worked with at the government hospital has been accepted into a gynecologic oncology training program in Milan, Italy. He has to figure out how to pay for his rent, food, transport, etc to go. He plans on returning to Ethiopia when he is finished. This could make a huge difference for the women and children of Ethiopia. If you know of any programs, grants, scholarships, private donors, etc that could help him, please let me know.
There is an Ethiopian saying that goes like this, “When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.” If you all could throw out some webs, we can do this!
Oh Stephanie. Yuck. Will ask around.
stephanie, you and your fund raising will be sorely missed when you leave!
[…] I have read a statement from a doctor who has worked in Ethiopia for more than two years, saying there is no gynecologial […]
You are absolutely right that they are working on moving forward. One of those new Medical Schools is in Soddo. They are trying a new model. All of the students have to have an undergrad degree. The ones I have met were pharmacists, health officers, or had some degree dealing with medicine. I am hopeful for not just an increase in physicians, but an increase in specialists over the next 15-20 years. They just started an Orthopedic and Anesthesia residency in the last few years. The specialties and sub-specialties will continue to grow. It will just take time.
Hi Stephanie,
This is Seth Stimson, a year or two behind you at MNU. I was pointed to your blog through an email from MNU. Anyways, I see what you are doing now or for the past 2 years in Ethiopia. It is great that you are using your skills there. I saw some first hand things of what you are talking about on the medical side this past year right there in Ethiopia! My wife, 16 month old little girl, and I visited Ethiopia in July, 2012. We were visiting Andrew Hoskins and his family, Andrew’s sister is Amy Lucas (Hoskins). I looked up where Soddo is and it is actually somewhat close to where they are which is close to Bongo. They are about 3 hours drive from Jimma. It looked like that you are not too far away from them if you were able to drive straight to them, but I know with the road system you would have to travel back to Addis and then back out. They are directors of a medical clinic and children’s home for an organization called Lalmba. They have been there for over 3 years. We also visited Lalibela, so it is very cool to see the pictures you posted! I am glad that I found your blog! Small world isn’t it! My email is mnubball@yahoo.com and Andrew’s is hoskinsandrew@gmail.com if you had any desire to contact him. God Bless.
look into Kristoph Blind Mission, German agency helps to support African physicians who train in the west and return to Africa. If they cannot help they may know of someone who might.
I tried to find it, but couldn’t. Do they have a web address? Email?