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Blue Nile Children's Organization is run by a small staff and volunteers, both in Seattle and in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Many of our projects can be benefited by additional volunteers or interns. If you are interested in working for BNCO or would like to comment or ask questions please contact us!

The healthcare system in Ethiopia is organized by the Ministry of Health (MOH). MOH serves many functions, including the provision of population-level health services and direct health services to individuals, as well as licensing and establishing standards for pharmaceuticals, pharmacies and drug-shops, laboratories, health professionals, and healthcare facilities operated by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) or for-profit businesses. The work of MOH is carried out through Regional Health Bureaus (RHBs) and their subunits, the Woreda Health Offices. Our clinic, ROMC, is in the Addis Ababa RHB.

 

The types of private clinics that the MOH will license are: i

 

Small General Clinics
Medium General Clinics
Higher General Clinics
Small Dental Therapist Clinics
Higher Dental Clinics
Small Ophthalmic Clinics
Higher Ophthalmic Clinics
Gynecological and Obstetric Specialized Clinics
Specialized Pediatric Clinics
Small Physiotherapy Clinics
Higher Physiotherapy Clinics
ENT Higher Clinics
Internal Medicine Higher Clinics
Surgery/Orthopedic Higher Clinics
Dermatology Higher Clinics

 

MOH also licenses higher medical facilities (health centers and hospitals) and operates its own facilities.

 

The types of healthcare professionals that the MOH licenses, tracks and/or sets standards for are: ii

 

Medical doctors (specialists and general practitioners)
Health officers (a post with no U.S. equivalent, combining biological and clinical coursework similar to a nurse practitioner or physician assistant with public health and management training, see Curriculum.)
Pharmacists
Anesthesiologists (multiple levels of training, some probably equivalent to anesthetists in the U.S.)
Dentists
Nurses (multiple levels of training)
Nurse midwives (multiple levels of training)
Pharmacy technicians
Laboratory technicians (multiple levels of training)
Environmental health technologists/technicians (multiple levels of training)
Occupational health graduates
Radiographers
Druggists
Health extension workers (known as "community health workers" in many other countries, high school graduates with one year of training in disease prevention and health education; see the Adolescent Reproductive Health Extension Package for an example of programs in which HEWs play an important role)

 

For more information, visit the Ministry of Health website.
i Ministry of Health 2nd Amended Directive of Licensing of Private Clinics
ii Ministry of Health 1999 Health and Health Related Indicator