The Global burden of disease in Ethiopia

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A few weeks ago, I attended a conference in Tanzania called Every Breathe Counts. It was me, two of my colleagues from Soddo Christian Hospital and a general practitioner from St Mary's Catholic Primary Hospital. 

One of the most interesting parts of the conference was looking at the data from the "Global Burden of Disease" as published by Lancet. This is what I have seen, but didn't have numbers to describe it. Out of all the deaths per year documented in Ethiopia, the LARGEST box, which indicated the largest number of deaths per year, is from neonatal causes.  This is what motivates us each year to keep getting better, keep learning, keep improving, keep teaching, keep expanding.


 

This conference was amazing! It was 200 neonatal medical providers from 9 countries in Africa. It was a dream come true. This walk of caring for tiny babies, that some believe have no hope for life, is sacred and precious. The deep sorrows and the high joys of this journey taking care of fragile newborns, some as small as 600grams is hard to describe to anyone who hasn't walked it the same. But with a glance and a smile or tear, those in attendance at this conference knew that we don't have to describe it to each other. We have each walked it, initially alone, but now together. That was so powerful. 

Thank you so much to Dr Steve Swanson and his team for hosting a wonderful conference. 

If you have the time, listen to a podcast made after the conferece: 

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/eo-60-dr-stephen-swanson-quality-improvement-in-tanzania/id1535467796?i=1000585913403 

I found that my walk of developing our NICU has paralleled his so much. I wish I was as eloquent as Dr Steve. His words express some of the deepest parts of my walk as we developed our own NICU in Soddo. 




 




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