A workshop on the preparation of an accelerated health equity plan for Bena Tsemay and Hamer Woredas was held in Jinka town, South Omo Zone, SNNPR. The workshop was jointly convened by the Hailemariam & Roman Foundation and South Omo Zone Health Department, which took place from May 31 to June 1, 2022.
South Omo zone has made encouraging progress in achieving comparable coverage to the national average in some of the high-impact mother and child health programs. Unfortunately, Bena Tsemay & Hamer are among the woredas in the zone with significant health inequity, necessitating considerable measures to achieve comparable levels of health program success.
As a way out to the challenge, HRF is orchestrated an accelerated health equity roadmap in collaboration with key stakeholders with the goal of improving the performance of high-impact health interventions in the woredas.
Mr. Meskele Lera, the Chief of HRF’s Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health (MNCH) & Nutrition Program, stated that to help in the process, a technical working group (TWG) chaired by the South Omo Zone Health Department and HRF serving as secretary was established three months ahead. He added that the preparation of the roadmap covers reproductive health, maternal health, neonatal & child health, Nutrition, women reproductive organ cancers, HIV/AIDS, and other programs with significant effects on attaining improved health outcomes.
He further pointed that while considering local settings, the roadmap is aligned with the national health sector transformation plan, national health equity strategy, and regional plan.
Hailemariam & Roman Foundation
June 2022, Addis Ababa