Ethiopia Education, Health and Welfare

By | January 28, 2021

Education

The education system provides for ten years of general education. After the tenth school year, there is a separation between students who have completed two further school years for university entrance qualifications and those who are prepared for the world of work in two vocational school years.

Access to education has improved enormously since the end of the military dictatorship. Ethiopia invests heavily in the education sector and has one of the best schooling rates in Africa. According to the World Bank, over 85 percent of all children in Ethiopia receive primary education. However, the high number of children who only attend classes irregularly and those who leave school prematurely and consequently without qualifications remains a major challenge. In addition, it becomes clear that girls are more likely to drop out of school and attend irregular school than boys.

The higher education system in Ethiopia has undergone tremendous change in the past few decades. The number of state universities rose from two to 31 in less than 20 years. More are being planned. Private colleges and universities have also taken a not insignificant place in the education market. The attempt to make higher education accessible to more and more people poses several challenges for the government: One problem that must be taken seriously is ensuring the quality of education. The number of those graduating from a university is growing rapidly. However, it is noticeable that it is still mainly male students are from high-income families and urban communities who make it to universities.

The brain drain is a problem, particularly in the medical field. This leads to a deterioration in the medical supply situation in Ethiopia. But also skilled workers from other industries are leaving their country in search of better working conditions (especially better pay) for the USA, Canada, Australia or Europe.

Anatomical painting on an old school building

Anatomical painting on an old school building

Health and welfare

According to aristmarketing, Ethiopia is a country located in Eastern Africa. The health care in Ethiopia despite considerable efforts and progress already achieved still deficient. However, these efforts are effective: The training of medical personnel has been strongly promoted since 2005 – in 2016 alone, 3,000 doctors completed their studies in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government has invested extensively and continues to work on the health care challenges: Access to essential medicines is only possible for a part of the population. Almost half of the population has to travel more than 15 kilometers to get to the nearest health post.

Many people experience frequent diarrhea. These are the most frequent cause of death in children. They are caused by poor hygiene: The lack of clean drinking water is still a major problem, especially in rural areas. This is accompanied by the problem of a lack of sanitary facilities.

Other challenges remain malaria (the prevalence of which varies greatly from region to region in Ethiopia), hepatitis, meningitis, schistosomiasis and HIV / AIDS.

In the area of maternal and infant health Significant progress has been made in recent years. However, the country still faces major challenges, especially in rural areas.

A sense of health protection and prevention in everyday life is also slowly developing. For example, a smoking ban in public has been in force since 2016 .

State social security systems have also entered the government’s agenda: With the National Social Protection Policy, work began on issues such as child benefit, old-age and occupational disability pensions.

Covid-19 / SARS-CoV-2

Ethiopia has been affected by the global SARS-CoV-2 pandemic since March 2020 . The government has taken various measures to prevent the virus from spreading, but the number of cases continues to rise, especially in urban areas. Experts fear that Ethiopia’s health system is not adequately prepared for a large number of infected or sick people. Significant negative effects on the country’s political and economic stability are also feared.

HIV / AIDS

AIDS education

AIDS education

HIV / AIDS is widespread in Ethiopia. UNAIDS assumes a prevalence of 1 percent (among 15 to 49 year olds).

Ethiopia’s government is making great efforts in the fight against HIV / AIDS in cooperation with international donors. In addition to education and prevention, the main aim is to improve medical care for people with HIV / AIDS. There has been presentable success here. The new infection rate among adults was reduced by 90% in the 2000’s and has been falling continuously since then. According to UNAIDS estimates, there were around 23,000 new infections in 2018. Significant successes have also been achieved in the treatment of the disease: the proportion of HIV-positive people receiving retroviral therapy was 65% in 2018.

About 690,000 people (UNAIDS, 2018) live with HIV / AIDS in Ethiopia, more than 63% of them are women.

Although more and more people have knowledge about HIV / AIDS, routes of infection and treatment options, HIV-positive people are often faced with stigma and exclusion. Here it is especially the civil society, there are small organizations or churches that are trying to counteract their communities.