News Health in crisis: Forum decries humanitarian emergency in Amhara region
November 30, 2024
The Forum for Higher Education Institutions in the Amhara Region is urging immediate action to remedy the devastating toll that armed conflict has had on the region’s healthcare system, including the looting and destruction of nearly one thousand health facilities, and the displacement or incapacitation of over a thousand healthcare workers.
The Forum organized a workshop at the Sheraton Addis this week, bringing together government officials, humanitarian organizations, and civil society representatives to discuss strategies for providing urgent humanitarian assistance and promoting long-term solutions.
The ‘Humanitarian Response Strategy for the Amhara Region: A Call to Action’ looks to craft a relief plan for the ongoing conflict, displacement, and food insecurity plaguing the region.
The focus during the workshop was on advocating for increased support and resources to address the critical needs of the affected population.
In his opening remarks, Tafere Melaku (PhD), secretary general of the Forum, stated that the ongoing conflict has severely disrupted the region’s health system. He said that millions of people are now without access to essential healthcare, as numerous facilities have been destroyed, looted, or rendered non-operational.
Tafere further noted that healthcare workers are grappling with insecurity and displacement, leaving them unable to serve communities in urgent need.
“Health institutions and their workers are beacons of hope in these difficult times, standing as symbols of humanity’s resilience,” he said. “Shortages of medicine, equipment, and supplies have only worsened the crisis, putting countless lives at risk from preventable diseases and untreated conditions.”
The workshop highlighted the extensive damage inflicted on the health sector during the two-year northern war, with only five percent of damaged health centers restored following the conflict’s conclusion in late 2022.
It was noted that the ongoing hostilities have now resulted in the destruction of nearly one thousand health centers across the Amhara Region.
A study conducted in 2023 by the regional health bureau and the Ethiopian Public Health Institute revealed significant gaps in the region’s ability to respond to complex health emergencies.
These gaps include severe shortages of logistics, such as humanitarian supplies and essential medicines. The event also highlighted critical deficits in key medical supplies, including inter-agency health kits, malaria treatment kits, vaccines, and sexual and reproductive health kits, which pose substantial challenges to addressing the region’s healthcare needs effectively.
Speaking to The Reporter, Professor Fentie Ambaw, a lecturer at Bahir Dar University, stated that during the northern war, damage was inflicted on 40 hospitals and 443 health centers across the Amhara, Afar, and Tigray regions.
He further noted that restoring the health institutions destroyed in the region currently requires more than 48 million USD.
Fentie observes inadequate access to healthcare leads to both physical and mental suffering within society. He noted that the number of individuals experiencing mental health issues has risen significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, with predictions suggesting this figure could triple.
“Before the COVID period, there were a few thousand mentally ill individuals in the region, accounting for about ten percent of the population. However, following the pandemic, this figure has surged to over thirty percent,” he told The Reporter, emphasizing that the situation is expected to worsen beyond current observations.
Fentie highlighted that the war has fostered fear and eroded trust among both the public and healthcare workers, affecting their ability and willingness to provide or seek necessary care.
“The only thing we can do now is to plead for an end to the targeting of the health sector,” Fentie stated.
Underling the absence of robust international intervention in addressing the escalating war in the region, participants called on the international community to take decisive action by delivering life-saving aid, including food and medical supplies, while also supporting long-term efforts aimed at fostering peace and recovery.
Last month, the Forum reported that more than 5,000 survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) have sought clinical care in the Amhara region in the year leading up to September 2024.