Ethiopia

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We've been sharing a lot about the personal process that we have each been going through to get our families to Ethiopia, but we haven't necessarily shared much about Ethiopia. We have all been learning tons about Ethiopia, it's culture, history, and it's social and political systems. We humbly admit that we won't really KNOW Ethiopia until we we've "walked a mile" there. Until then we get to learn by reading the blogs of the wonderful people who are volunteering there now.

One of the things we have learned is the hard reality facing the people in Ethiopia. Here are some medical statistics that we learned.

  • 50% of the population is under 15 years old
  • 40% of the population lives in extreme poverty, less than $1 per day
  • 1 in 6 children die before the age of 1
  • 1 in 10 die before the age of 5
  • 1 in 70 women will die while giving birth
  • 6% of births have a trained attendant present
  • In all of Ethiopia, a country with a population of 91 million, there are only 1700 doctors. To put that in perspective, Stanford Medical Center has 1,900 doctors. 
All of this points to the need for better health education for the population and better training of medical professionals. We are excited to go and be a part of this important work. Keeping our eyes on education and growing systems that empower local people to take an active role in the health of their communities. Its the only way our work will continue to touch lives for generations.

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