1.7  Development of the Health Service Extension Programme

Despite the improvements in health outcomes achieved through the implementation of HSEP there are still challenges and problems that limit progress in the healthcare services in rural Ethiopia. In Section 1.6 of this study session you learnt about some of the significant improvements in health outcomes throughout Ethiopia and now in this section you will learn about some of the gaps that are apparent and the measures that are being taken to further improve the services.

According to the Federal Ministry of Health’s Health Sector Development III Performance Evaluation Report, there are problems with reading and writing skills amongst some Health Extension Workers, particularly those recruited in pastoralist and semi-pastoralist areas. There have also been requests from the rural community for more curative services to be provided at Health Post level. A lack of in-service training has also been noted. These and other factors have urged the government to improve the knowledge and skills of Health Extension Workers at least to the level that enables them to provide safe and competent preventive and health promotion activities, as well as basic curative services. For this to be realised, these cost-effective blended learning training modules have been created. This module-based training helps you to get your education without having to leave your workplace. Furthermore, this type of learning makes it possible to train significant numbers of Health Extension Workers at the same time.

This study session is the first one that you will study in the Health Management, Ethics and Research Module. It will serve as an introduction to all the other study sessions in the Module.