1. Presentation
Steven Davis
Executive Director
Academics for Higher Education and Development
Introduction (slides 1 and 2)
I want to talk to you about a project that Academics for Higher Education and Development,
with the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Nursing as a partner, is doing at Addis Ababa
University’s School of Nursing. Let me begin by telling you something about Ethiopia.
The Country (slides 3 and 4)
Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. 39% of the population lives on less than
$1.25 dollar a day and 90% suffer across a range of deprivations. (slides 5 and 6) The average
number of years of schooling is 1.4. 42% of children under five are malnourished, which effects
cognitive development. On the 2010 United Nations Development Programme Development
Index, Ethiopia is 157th out of 169 countries.
Health in Ethiopia (slide 7)
Health outcomes are deplorable and it is the women, infants, and children who suffer the most.
The infant mortality for children under five is 109 per 1000. The maternal mortality is 673 per
100,000. Over 70% of Ethiopian women undergo female genital mutilation often with crude
instruments, a broken piece of glass, a rusty razor, or a sharpened stone. The fertility rate is 5.3
births for each woman. (slide 8) By having many children, parents buy an old age pension,
hoping that some of them will live into adulthood to take care of them when they are old. If more
children lived past five, there would be a reduced reason to have so many children.
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2. Moving Forward (slide 9)
It might seem that Ethiopia is hopeless. Nevertheless, the country is developing. In the United
Nations Development Programme 2010 edition of its development index, it lists the countries
that have improved the most over the last twenty years. Ethiopia comes in 11th. I realize that
there are problems with governance in Ethiopia. But AHED does not do business with the
government. It sends expertise, not money. So there is no possibility for corruption.
The Project (slide 10)
The goal of the project is to set up a Master’s programme in maternal and reproductive health at
Addis Ababa University. Teams of four from the U of T’s Faculty of Nursing, will be sent twice
a year for a month’s stay, over the three years of the project. After the second year, the
University of Toronto nursing faculty will co-teach with the nursing faculty at Addis Ababa
University.
At the end of three years, the programme will be in place, enabling the Ethiopians themselves to
train nurses in maternal and reproductive health. Some of the graduates will be employed by
other nursing schools to set up similar programmes. Some will be employed by health clinics and
hospitals throughout the country dispensing information and treatment concerned with
pregnancy, child birth, and infant and child health. The ultimate goal is to improve the health of
women, infants and children, allowing women to control their rate of pregnancy and to reduce
the disastrously high mortality rate of infants and children and of women in child birth.
Sustainability
Can the project be sustained? The project is part of the Toronto Addis Ababa Academic
Cooperation (TAAAC) at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Medicine, which is run by Clare
Pain, my collaborator. Clare, a professor of psychiatry at the U of T’s Faculty of Medicine, ran a
predecessor programme. In 2003, Ethiopia had only nine foreign trained psychiatrists and no
programme to train psychiatrists locally. Sending trainees abroad resulted in hundreds of
Ethiopian physicians staying abroad. Today, Ethiopia has 40 practicing psychiatrists and a
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3. thriving psychiatric residency program. It thus is now in a position to train its own psychiatrists.
Our project is modeled on this programme.
The Budget (slide 11, 12, 13)
Addis Ababa University will provide housing and the volunteers will pay for their meals. AHED
will cover the rest of their expenses which total $62,832. (11) The partners in the project have
committed $50,000. (12) I am here at the Toronto Funding Network to raise the final $12,832
that we need to make this project possible. (13) Almost all the funds we raise go into projects; I
work pro bono as do many on my staff.
Extra Money (slide 14)
If AHED were to raise extra money this evening, it would use the money to send more faculty
nurses from the U of T to train more nurses at the University of Addis Ababa.
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4. The Country
Ethiopia
Population 85 million
Living on $1.25 a day 39%
Living on $2.00 a day 78%
Suffering from Deprivations 90%
No electricity 86%
Inadequate sanitation 88%
No Floor in living quarters 88%
No clean water 54%
No Schooling 62%
Average years of schooling 1.4
Percentage undernourished 65%
Percentage of under fives malnourished 42%
UNDP Development Index 157th out of 169 countries
Country Briefing: Ethiopia, Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (OPHI),
July 2010.
The Real Wealth of Nations: Pathways to Human Development, Human Development Report
2010, 20th Anniversary Edition, United Nations Development Programme
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5. Health in Ethiopia
Ethiopia Canada
Life Expectancy 58 81
Infant Mortality 109 per 1000 4 per 1000
Maternal Mortality 673 per 100,000 9 per 100,000
Fertility rate 5.3 per woman 1.6 per woman
Doctors <.5 per 10,000 (1806) 19 per 10,000 (62,000)
Nurses & Midwives 2 per 10,000 (19158) 100 per 10,000 (327,000)
Female genital mutilation 70%
World Health Statistics 2010, World Health Organization
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6. The Budget - Expenses
Expense AHED Addis Ababa University Volunteer
Air Fare (KLM) $1618.00
Accommodations 0 X
Meals 0 X
Local Transportation 0 X
Vaccinations $150.00
Taxis $200.00
Incidentals $100.00
Travel and Health Insurance $350.00
Medication $200.00
Total per volunteer $2618.00
Project total for 24 volunteers $62832.0
0
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7. Revenue
Revenue
AHED $25000.00
The University of Toronto Faculty of Nursing $25,000.00
Toronto Funding Network $12,832.00
Total $62,832.00
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