Bill Gates praises health workers in Ethiopia, shares their amazing story

Ethiopia had one of the highest rates of child mortality in the world, back in 1990, when one in five children died before reaching the age of five. As the country, one of the poorest worldwide, struggled to provide basic health services, it found a way to deliver healthcare to the remotest corners. Now, Bill Gates, richest man alive and one of the world’s leading philanthropists, praises the work done by health workers and shares their story.

In a post on his blog, Bill Gates recalls his first visit in Ethiopia in 2012, when he saw how the country selected thousands of people, primarily young women with at least a 10th grade education, and trained them in a set of basic health skills—including how to deliver babies, administer immunizations, and provide family planning support—that are proven to save lives.

“I was amazed. I visited a remote health post south of Addis Ababa run by two health workers, Yetagesu Alemu and Betula Shemesie. They spent many of their days walking from door to door in their village caring for pregnant women and families with newborns. Their health post didn’t have electricity or any high tech medical equipment. Still, their efforts had made an impact on the health of the families in their community,” Gates wrote.

He underlined that despite being one of the poorest countries in the world, Ethiopia managed to dramatically reduce the rate of child mortality: by 2012 it met the target for the Millennium Development Goal on child survival, with under-five death rates dropping by 66% since 1990.

Today, Ethiopia has more than 15,000 health posts delivering primary health care to the farthest reaches of the rural country of around 100 million people. The health posts are staffed by 38,000 health workers.

“Last summer, I had a chance to visit Ethiopia again. I caught up with Yetagesu and Betula over coffee and to learn more about how the health worker program was going. They told me how women who once delivered their babies at home were now choosing to give birth at health centers. Their communities also had access to ambulances that would pick up any woman who is ready to give birth. Yetagesu and Betula were also proud to report that they had received additional medical training to sharpen their health skills,” Gates added.

The billionaire shared a virtual reality clip he shot while in Ethiopia and praised the country for its achievements and also for being a model for other countries to follow.

Bill and Melinda Gates recently said that one of the biggest challenge in child survival is newborn deaths and innovative ways to solve this problem must be found in the near future.