Obama’s Ethiopia Visit: An Opportunity for Health Diplomacy

Two girls at Semera Girls Boarding School in Ethiopia. Image from UNICEF Ethiopia Courtesy of Flickr/Creative Commons License.

US President Barack Obama’s trip to Ethiopia and Kenya this week presents an opportune platform to not only acknowledge Ethiopia's successes in public health, but also to address lingering health inequities in the country. In particular, he should speak to the importance of women's health.

Obama will be the first sitting US president to visit Ethiopia, where he will visit the African Union headquarters (housed in Addis Ababa) and hold meetings with Ethiopian government officials. Undoubtedly, this trip has caused some controversy as critics cited human rights issues in the region and an op-ed in Foreign Policy called for him to cancel the trip. Nonetheless, the trip will continue as planned. In early July, the Ethiopian government freed 5 journalist bloggers and sent troops to Somalia for a strike against al-Shabab. The release of the journalists has received lots of attention and has been partially attributed to Obama's upcoming trip. While human rights and regional stability are important issues for Ethiopians to grapple with and it is likely that President Obama will publicly address these issues during his visit, there are other important social and economic concerns that should also be considered—and public health should be on the agenda.

In recent decades, Ethiopia has made many improvements in public health. Pharmaceutical imports and distribution are highly regulated. Its medical professionals are fairly organized with important associations for doctors, pharmacists, and midwives. High-ranking officials at the Ministry of Health are engaged with improving outcomes and have significant training in health themselves. Ethiopia has made significant progress towards the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Increased public health coverage and the influx of more health professionals has led to lowered rates of tuberculosis, HIV, and malaria infections and a decrease in infant mortality in urban areas. There is still much room, however, for growth relating to certain environmental issues and high maternal mortality rates. Women's health is central to greater health outcome for everyone as women are often mothers and caretakers.

Despite recent improvements, Ethiopia's maternal mortality rate remains high. The World Bank estimates 420 maternal deaths for every 100,000 births. Some factors that contribute to these high rates include low prenatal and antenatal care rates, home delivery, female circumcision, and childhood marriage. Complications during childbirth may lead not only to death but also other sometimes-debilitating conditions including various forms of pelvic fistulas.. The Ethiopian Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Women, Children, and Youth Affairs promote public health awareness and regularly implement various initiatives. Seasoned NGOs, such as Hamlin Fistula Foundation and emerging public health start-ups such as Tesfa Health Initiative are also concerned with women's health in Ethiopia. Despite these efforts, more needs to be done. The country needs resources for infrastructure and staffing to improve the access to its rural inhabitants. Rural health access is key since about 3/4 of Ethiopia's 94 million inhabitants live outside of cities. Improved women's health is key to a strong labor force as Ethiopia continues its move toward industrialization, and collective public health is important to regional and global political stability and health security.

To be sure, some may argue that talks about human rights and defense trump other conversations. While these issues are important, regional and global health security is equally significant. The 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa helped to show the importance of strong public health systems and the interconnectedness of global public health. Obama's visit to Ethiopia gives him the opportunity to go beyond the usual political discussions and bring health diplomacy into conversation in new ways.

Donna A. Patterson, PhD is the author of Pharmacy in Senegal, featured in GHN’s Book Club; she has ongoing research projects in Ethiopia and Senegal.

Source: globalhealthnow.org