Each year our Health[e]Families program partner in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Midwives Association (EMwA), organizes the General Assembly for Ethiopian midwives. The 28th edition, 2019, took place on 3-4 October and midwives from all over the country and representatives of (inter)national stakeholders and organizations were present. Health[e]Foundation was represented by Judith de Lange and Alyanne Boon, our project managers responsible for the Health[e]Families project in Ethiopia.
Since 2015, the Health[e]Families project, funded by Stichting Dioraphte, has conducted the Female&Family[e]Education training for midwives and the mobile message/voice service LUCY for pregnant women. Click here to read more about the Health[e]Families project.
During the meeting, Assembly participants received information and presentations about the activities of EMwA and were updated on the legal, financial and organizational structure of the association. The main achievements of EMwA were reported, including their research activities presented by PhD students and project staff. On the second day, the new by-laws and the annual plan of EMwA were presented. EMwA will continue to focus on educating midwives throughout the country with mentorship programs, skills and research training to improve the quality of midwifery care in Ethiopia.
The Assembly provided a great opportunity for Health[e]Foundation to connect with other partner organizations and to discuss and explore the alignment and integration of programs and activities to increase impact. We treasure our partnership with EMwA and look forward to establishing future programs in Ethiopia to reduce maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality by increasing knowledge and quality of care.