Report

Country Case Studies of the Impact of COVID-19 in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Sudan – Volume II

This review has addressed the impacts of COVID-19 on the Ethiopian health system with measures being taken based on the 8 pillars adopted from the WHO preparedness strategy with additional cross cutting issues. The country health strategy – HSTP is emphasizing strengthening the primary health care unit which comprise health posts, health centers and primary hospitals with limited resources and capacity that could not accommodate the current types of emergency situations. Therefore, the government needs to see the strategy and work on the improvement of secondary and tertiary level of health care settings to be ready for any kind of emergency for the future. The poor health system with limited capacity in terms of trained health work force, medical supplies, diagnostic facilities, and intensive care units stood out to be key challenges to control the pandemic, to the extent that the system has been overwhelmed by the increasing number of COVID-19 health condition.