The rural clinics of Ethiopia are in very poor condition  and in great need of trained personnel and medical supplies. One such clinic which the International Fund for Africa is working to help is located in Zemero, 320 Kilometers north of Addis Ababa in the northern province of Shoa. This clinic attempts to serve approximately 67,000 Ethiopians who come from all corners of the province.

The Zemero facility has one Health Officer, one nurse, and two health assistants. This staffing does not even meet the minimum requisite to qualify as a medical clinic. The facility has few beds, very little medical equipment, one microscope, and no x-ray making it impossible to adequately serve a population of 1,000 people, let alone a population of 67,000.

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Of course, before people can receive even the minimum of care the clinic is able to provide, they must get to there. Sick patients who are able to walk must travel 20 to 30 kilometers over rough, hilly, arid terrain often only to be told upon their arrival that the clinic is unable to help them and they must travel another 30 kilometers to the nearest hospital, which is also poorly equipped. One such patient that we saw while visiting the clinic was a 70-year-old man who walked 20 kilometers to the clinic. He had not eaten for 12 hours and had swollen legs, was coughing up blood, and complained of weakness. After a cursory examination, he was told that he would have to go to the nearest hospital some 30 kilometers away because the clinic did not have the necessary x-ray equipment and laboratory capability for the blood work required to properly diagnose and treat his condition. The man said he did not have the energy to go another 30 kilometers and went back home instead.

In the case of individuals who are too ill to walk, a group of 10 family members and/or friends will take turns every couple hours carrying the patient four at a time on a locally improvised contrivance for transporting the sick. We witnessed one young lady suffering from vaginal bleeding brought to the clinic in just this manner. In this case too, the clinic was unable to help because it did not have the capability to do dilation and curettage. She was also told to go to the hospital 30 kilometers away.

The health care problems faced by the people in rural areas of Ethiopia are immense, as in much of rural Africa. The lnternational Fund for Africa is taking on the upgrading and improvement of rural clinics in Africa, beginning with the clinic in Zemero by providing medical equipment and supplies, ambulance and patient transport services, and training to increase the number of qualified medical personnel. Everyone is not able to go to Africa and work to remedy this intolerable situation, but your donation to the IFA will go a long way toward providing adequate health care for people who are in desperate need of the basic health services we so take for granted. Any and all donations, no matter how small, are greatly appreciated.