THE TERZO PILASTRO FOUNDATION WITH GSI ITALIA FOR HEALTH IN ETHIOPIA

The program of training activities in the Department of Physiatry of Gondar and in the St Paul Hospital of Addis Ababa was completed, with the improvement of the rehabilitation capacity of the Ethiopian healthcare through the development of new skills and the numerical increase of rehabilitation operators, physiatrists and physiotherapists. The subject of the training was the field of post-traumatic musculoskeletal rehabilitation and cardiological and neurological rehabilitation in patients affected by cardiac and cerebral vascular insults.

Evident on the Ethiopian side is the satisfaction for the progressive autonomization of the rehabilitation school of Gondar. The USL Umbria 2 was involved in the training operation, which made the structure and staff of the Trevi hospital available. The civic administration of the city has signed a memorandum of understanding with that of the city of Gondar and has ensured the hospitality of Ethiopian health workers during their training stays in Italy.

On the occasion of the spring mission to Ethiopia of our delegation, led by Dr Silvano Lolli, areas of further training were identified for new healthcare personnel, scheduled in Trevi for the months of September-November 2023, with resources other than those of the Foundation. A further mission of the GSI Italia health workers in Ethiopia, training and verification and evaluation of the results achieved, is scheduled for December 2023, guerrilla warfare permitting in the Gondar area.

With the development of the program which from next year 2024 also involves the other large hospital in the capital, the Black Lion, GSI Italia has called Dr. Nejat Ahmed Yimer, currently employed in the Black Lion Hospital, to a paid coordination role, transferred to Addis Ababa from Gondar University and already a beneficiary of training in Italy in another project funded by GSI Italia on the prevention and treatment of gynecological cancers.

The project had a development between 2021-23 that proved to be difficult at times due to the Covid pandemic and the tribal war in the Gondar area, which is regaining strength in this summer 2023 and which obliges the Italian Embassy in Addis Ababa calls for the attention of Italian aid workers in this area of the country and for measures of caution and travel limitation.