Ethiopia: Project HOPE Partners with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to Connect Communities with Lifesaving Care

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, March 29th, 2024 – Project HOPE is honored to receive $8 million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to implement two critical initiatives in close collaboration with the government of Ethiopia aimed at connecting underserved communities with essential health care: Pathways for Ethiopia and Integrating Health into the Productive Safety Net Program. 

Pathways for Ethiopia is a groundbreaking data and insights platform crafted to comprehend, reach, and support underserved and marginalized communities in Ethiopia. Operating on the principles of social determinants of health, Pathways provides a comprehensive view of health and well-being to inform health-focused interventions. Pathways blends research and programs, using its data to formulate an approach to effectively reach marginalized segments of the population. The project will also build the modeling capacity within the Ethiopian government. 

The Integrating Health into the Productive Safety Net Program is designed to deliver reproductive, maternal, newborn, and child health and nutrition services to communities in the Amhara, Tigray, and Afar regions. Focused on underserved women, children, and adolescents, the program will leverage mobile and outreach health teams to extend access to care. The evidence generated from this initiative will play a pivotal role in shaping policies and practices and fostering a stronger integration and collaboration between health services and the existing Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), Ethiopia’s largest safety net program.

“Far too many women and children in conflict-affected areas in northern Ethiopia do not have access to adequate health care or nutritional assistance, resulting in poor health outcomes that are largely preventable,” said Dawit Tsegaye, Project HOPE’s Country Director for Ethiopia. “With support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Project HOPE will be able to better understand the needs of underserved or marginalized communities and connect them to critical care.” 

Both the Pathways for Ethiopia and Integrating Health into the Productive Safety Net programs build on Project HOPE’s previous partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation which focused on improving Ethiopia’s health system and reducing zero-dose children by providing equitable and quality immunization services. In 2022, Project HOPE published a report with funding from the foundation about the number of children who had not received a vaccination in their lifetime with recommendations for improving immunization coverage in hard-to-reach and underserved settings.

Project HOPE’s ongoing partnership with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation underscores a shared commitment to advancing global health and creating sustainable solutions to address complex challenges.

 

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