Opening our year with a strong flavored cup of coffee, as FP2030 ESA Hub visits Ethiopia

By Dr. Sheila Macharia, FP2030 East and Southern Africa Hub, Managing Director

“Buna dabo naw,” is a local Ethiopian saying, when loosely translated means, “Coffee is our bread,” illustrating the special relationship between coffee and the people of Ethiopia. This uniquely flavored beverage was one of the many enjoyable facets of our week in Ethiopia, marking our first country visit for 2024.   

We will return to Addis Ababa, not only to sample the special flavour of Ethiopian coffee and to enjoy their hospitality, but to continue our partnership and friendship. Walk with me now as I tell you how the year has started and some of the highlights of our visit to Ethiopia.

The global community is facing a challenging environment as economies absorb the effects of geo-political crises in certain parts of the world, in particular poor and marginalized communities. Fiscal constraints have become a reality even as countries remain committed to the health and welfare of their citizens. As we work with various countries across East and Southern Africa, this is the context that underlies our partnerships and our efforts to advance rights-based family planning.  

Against this background we have some notable successes. This year as we began to review progress on FP2030 commitments, Ethiopia is the first country we visited. We held very fruitful discussions with senior leadership, technical leads from the ministry of health, and various development and implementing partners.

Ethiopia is currently grappling with multiple threats posed by conflict, climate change, and lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet despite these realities, in 2023 the government of Ethiopia signed a partnership agreement with various development partners aimed at securing increased government resources. The partners include Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Susan Thompson Buffett Foundation (STBF), United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation (DLPF).  Through the agreements the Ethiopian government unveiled an additional budget of USD $36 million for three years aimed at ensuring contraceptive commodity security and efficiencies in service provision. The government's contribution from the recurring budget amounts to USD $11.27 million while USD $24.8 million is coming from development partners. 

The State Minister of Health, Dr. Dereje Duguma, said Ethiopia has prioritized adolescent and youth development initiatives which will reach married adolescents to encourage birth spacing, and youth development activities featuring an essential health service package for those working in industrial parks. Other family planning scale up efforts are focused on postpartum family planning and the use of IUCDs as part of the high impact interventions. The Minister also talked about the need to enhance the integration of family planning into other reproductive health services. Noting that the private sector is a significant service provider in some regions, the Ministry of Health is reflecting on how to measure that contribution more accurately by getting the service data into the Health Management Information System (HMIS). 

Through our conversation and in meetings with a variety of development and implementing partners it is evident that the Government of Ethiopia is keen on strong collaborations to help meet country goals in the health sector.

It is one thing to highlight a priority – mobilize adequate and sustainable financing for the family planning program – it is another to follow through. I commend the Government of Ethiopia for that and for the strong political support for the family planning programs that is so evident from the leadership. At a time when the government is facing enormous challenges brought about by different crises including conflict and drought, these efforts are very significant.  

I would like also to make a special mention of Ethiopia’s focus on adolescents and young people as an essential component of the government’s strategies given Ethiopia’s high population of approximately 120 million, of which 28% are aged 15 to 29 years. The saying that the “future is young” is clearly evident in this country and these development efforts are very critical for Ethiopia’s success.

In our meeting with the State Minister for Health, I reiterated our support for Ethiopia’s FP2030 commitment efforts, exemplified by the good working relationships that exists with the FP2030 Focal Points led by Dr. Meseret Tadesse, Ministry of Health including other partners, namely the CSO CORHA, USAID, UNFPA and the Youth Focal Point. FP2030 ESA Hub will continue to work with Ethiopia, to strengthen the accountability processes for regular monitoring of the FP2030 commitment.

The ESA Hub will also work with MOH, the Ethiopia Public Health Institute (EPHI) and other partners like the World Health Organization (WHO) to enhance coordination efforts for the integration of SRH into emergency preparedness efforts.  The latter is a critical focus for Ethiopia.