ETHIOPIA – Health systems in Ethiopia’s troubled Tigray region are collapsing — and they aren’t just a result of circumstance, but an intentional target, according to a report by Devex news.
Tigray’s health facilities have been attacked and looted, and the region is now under a de facto blockade that prevents medical supplies and fuel from entering.
According to Devex, this has resulted in patients in the region dying due to a lack of basic medicines, while children suffer from severe malnutrition.
Militants have used hospitals as bases and stolen ambulances, while health workers claim they have not been paid in seven months. According to health workers, the destruction was planned.
“The health system is not political,” Devex cites a doctor. “The destruction was done deliberately. It’s not just collateral damage.”
For example, Ayder Referral Hospital, the largest in the region, has not received diabetes medication since June. Health workers began distributing expired drugs in September, but even those have run out.
“We are very sure that we will be flooded with acutely sick patients in the coming weeks but we will not be able to help them,” wrote a physician in an email pleading to international partners for assistance.
The conflict has also been marked by horrific levels of sexual violence, with survivors unable to receive adequate treatment.
During a recent media briefing, World Health Organization Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus lamented the agency’s inability to deliver medicines to the region, saying that “nowhere in the world are we witnessing hell like in Tigray.”
Tigray’s health system was once a regional model, with a focus on community-level interventions.
“To see that all go away to dust, is really, really heartbreaking for me,” one doctor says.
Over the last three decades, Ethiopia’s healthcare system has seen remarkable progress. The Tigray region had some of the country’s best health outcomes.
Prior to the start of the war, 94 percent of women in Tigray had access to skilled antenatal care, 72 percent gave birth in a health facility, and 63 percent received postnatal care.
In addition, more than 96 percent of children were immunized. Tigray had also made remarkable progress in the prevention and control of communicable diseases such as tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV.
Millions of people have been left without access to basic healthcare services as a result of the destruction of the health system.
Pregnant women in Tigray are denied basic maternal health services, and hundreds of thousands of children require immunization.
According to the UN, polio vaccines are required for 887,000 children, and measles vaccines are required for 790,000 children. An outbreak could occur if the shots are not administered.
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