Thanks to the combined efforts of WEFTA, the Village Health Partnership (VHP), and in-country associates, healthcare facilities in Ethiopia are improving patient services, including maternal and neonatal care. WEFTA engineer-volunteers Marty Howell and Nathan Stormzand traveled to southwestern Ethiopia in November 2025 to evaluate access to safe water, sanitation, hygiene, (WASH) and electricity in ten facilities located in the West Omo Zone and the Bench Sheko Zone. These included a large regional hospital, three district hospitals, and six healthcare centers providing essential services to a total of more than three million people.
Improving maternal and neonatal health in Ethiopia is a critical goal for VHP and WEFTA and their in-country partners. Too often healthcare facilities lack the basics, including clean water, sanitary conditions, adequate lighting, and refrigeration for critical medications, putting laboring mothers, infants, and other patients at risk. The WEFTA trip report tabulates current issues at each of the facilities in addition to proposed solutions. Results are being documented for the past five years by using a 19-part WASH assessment form. Improvements are evident but, as with all daunting challenges, much work remains to be done. Yet, as Marty and Nathan recorded in the WEFTA trip report, “Everyone we interviewed, including Dr. Erkyihun, CEO of the (Mizan Tempi University) hospital, is motivated to ‘lift up’ labor and delivery…”
Read the complete Trip Reports:
