The Ministry of Health has urged partners and stakeholders to cooperate in ensuring quality healthcare services through innovative approaches.

The remark was made at the conclusion of the 8th National Healthcare Innovation and Quality Summit under the theme: “Promoting Health System Innovation to Enhance Healthcare Quality, Safety and Equity” today.

Speaking on the occasion, Health Minister Dr. Mekdes Daba said more work is required to create and improve the quality of technologies that are important for the improvement of health services in Ethiopia.

The summit has created opportunities to exchange best experiences and practices among the participants of the conference and to identify future areas of focus, she added.

The minister further underscored the need for quality research to provide quality health services that would help as input for policy and strategy.

According to her, hospitals, institutions and regional states have demonstrated that innovative approaches have a great role in making the sec
tor effective and efficient.

Dr. Mekdes finally called on all stakeholders to work together to ensure that the health sector provides effective and affordable service and generate additional income.

Innovation Hub Head at WHO Headquarters, Louise Agersnap stressed that ‘we will not be achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 with the usual approach and mindset. Innovation is needed.’

Acknowledging that the health problems across the world are complex and difficult to solve, she noted that there are plenty of evidence based interventions at disposal, many of which are supported by WHO guidelines.

Agersnap further elaborated that translating a guideline into better health outcomes can be a challenge, adding that “we are catalyst for collaborative learning across the innovation ecosystem where we’re supporting the public sector to embed innovative capabilities within their organizations and leverage it for better health outcomes in a more open, iterative and participatory manner.”

Innovation and
Technology Minister, Belete Molla said innovation and technology works in health have been done in a scattered manner in the health sector.

Belete reiterated that his ministry is ready to strengthen the innovation activities in the sector.

The three-day summit was attended by various stakeholders, including the UN, regional bureau heads, donors, partners, private health institution heads and professional health associations.

Source: Ethiopian News Agency

A non-governmental organisation, German Foundation for World Population (DSW) has extended a helping hand to Migori youth and teenage mothers living with HIV/Aids to access better healthcare services.

DSW Project Officer Lee Oluoch, who was addressing stakeholders in reproductive health sector in Rongo Sub County said the move aims to ensure every youth, teenage mother, and discordant couple in the remote villages access their daily ARV medication.

One of the DSW main goals in East Africa is to address the youth-to-youth initiative that attempts to empower youth to play an active role in improving their sexual and reproductive health in their communities, through peer education, advocacy, and income-generating activities.

Oluoch said that the non-governmental organisation has already helped the teenagers and youths through support groups to set up table banking to fund activities that generate income to sustain their young families.

The organisation has also been helping the formal groups set up kitchen g
ardens to provide nutritional aspects to improve the immune system of HIV-positive individuals through a better-balanced diet.

‘We have also started other income-generating ventures like giving goats and sheep to the supportive groups to give them an extra edge in income generation,’ said Olouch.

He said that the support from the DSW will ensure the beneficiaries adhere to the culture of taking their medication on time and embrace table banking as a way to generate income as well as socialise by sharing ideas that can help the groups, especially the teenage mothers.

DSW has rolled out a similar project in Kilifi County to help the youth and teenage mothers accept their social life of living positively to enable them to raise a better generation.

‘We will keep engaging the youth and empower them socially and economically to give them hope for living positively for a better tomorrow,’ noted Olouch.

Rongo Sub-County Health Officer Ben Onuka said the project will help fight new infections acknowledging that
over 50 percent of all the new HIV infections in the County are from adolescents and youths.

Migori County remains one of the top five counties in Kenya with a high HIV prevalence rate of 10.4 percent with Awendo Sub County leading among the Sub counties with new HIV infections.

Onuka said that adolescents and youths especially girls are the most vulnerable group as a result of their naivety which makes them prey to sexual advances from older men.

County statistics on adolescent pregnancies in Migori as of 2023 stood at 19 percent and according to Onuka, most teenage mothers are ushered into motherhood with no experience of how to raise a child in addition to contracting the Hiv/Aids that sometimes overwhelms them leading to emotional stress.

Source: Kenya News Agency