Health extension service department head message
Ethiopia has been implementing a community health extension program (HEP) since 2003. We aimed to assess the successes and challenges of the HEP over time, and develop a framework that may assist the implementation of the program toward universal primary healthcare services. The HEP enabled Ethiopia to achieve significant improvements in maternal and child health, communicable diseases, hygiene and sanitation, knowledge and health care seeking. In response to the country’s health problem, in 2003 the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health launched a new health care plan, the “Accelerated Expansion of Primary Health Coverage,” through a comprehensive Health Extension Program (HEP), which serves as effective mechanism for shifting health care resources from predominantly urban to rural areas, where majority of the country’s population resides.
Health extension workers run health extension program (HEP). Therefore, our college is targeting to pre service training and upgrade training of health extension worker.
