About IIfPHC-E

The International Institute for Primary Health Care – Ethiopia (IIfPHC-E) is an organization affiliated with the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) and supported by the Gates foundation. We provide technical assistance to countries building strong Primary Health Care systems, through capacity building training, program design and implementation. We also support the FMOH through evidence based policy recommendations, training of PHC leaders, implementation of innovation labs, and engagement on PHC related policy and strategy designs. We engage in global advocacy to bring PHC as a primary driver to achieving Universal Health coverage.
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Who we are

To see a world where all people enjoy healthy life through PHC.

To proactively engage and drive the advancement of local and global PHC policy and programming.

Innovation:
The Institute uses innovative training, research and information sharing methods and focuses on new ways of enabling collaborators and trainees to seek and find innovative solutions for their specific problems and challenges.

Change agent (focus on leadership)
Enhancing leadership skills of decision makers and implementers through training is central to the Institute’s mission of advancing primary health care. Leadership is key to introduce new ideas and systems for improving peoples’ health.

Evidence based
The Institute believes that generating, searching and increasing access to evidence based practices for health leaders, decision-makers and implementers is key to initiate, accelerate and scale-up successful programs.

Knowledge hub
the Institute strives to become a knowledge hub through searching, engaging and acquiring new evidence in Ethiopia and elsewhere and making them accessible to those who need them.

Problem Solving
The ultimate objective of the Institute’s research and training activities is to find solutions and take-action for strengthening PHC. The Institute targets to build problem-solving skills so that collaborators and trainees will be responsive and proactive in addressing different types of problems they face in different contexts.

Empowerment
The training and networking process are designed to empower collaborators and trainees by using their own untapped skills, knowledge and experience.

Culturally appropriate
The institute strongly considers country specific cultures and local context. Training and implementation modalities are expected to be culturally sensitive and acceptable to communities and government bodies.

The Institute is expected to play a key role in strengthening PHC systems to ensure high standards of care and to increase service coverage and the use of timely evidence-based interventions. Specifically, the mandates of the Institute are to:
  1. Provide short-term training on PHC tailored to the needs of health workers, health managers, and policy-makers from Ethiopia, other African countries, and the rest of the world.
  2. Carry out need-based PHC systems implementation research, organize national and international forums to provide a platform for researchers and program implementers to share their research findings and experiences, and subsequently address issues needing attention.
  3. Develop a platform/hub that, supported by valid, reliable, timely and useful PHC-related documents, enables the collection and dissemination of evidence and best practices about PHC.
  4. Advocate for PHC through the promotion of best practices, innovations, evidence base and developing partnerships

Milestones

  • In September 2013, two years ahead of the deadlines, FMOH and UNICEF jointly announced that Ethiopia has successfully reduced the under-5 mortality rate by two-thirds between 1990 and 2012.
  • Significant progress was achieved in reducing levels of childhood malnutrition as articulated in MDG 1.
  • MDG 5, improving maternal health, was almost reached, with a decline in maternal mortality of 72%, versus the goal of 75%, and the percentage of mothers obtaining a delivery by a skilled provider increased 6-fold between 1995 and 2016.
  • The prevalence rate of modern contraceptive use increased from 6% in 2000 to 35% in 2016.
  • MDG 6, revering the spread of HIV and tuberculosis, was also reached.
  • Between 2000 and 2013, new HIV/AIDS infections fell by 30 percent, and over 6.2 million lives were saved from Malaria.
  • Between 1990 and 2015, the tuberculosis incidence and mortality rate declined by 48% and 72%, respectively.
  • From 2014 to 2016, ministerial-level health officials from more than 20 African countries have come to Ethiopia to learn first, first hand, how Ethiopia achieved the above mentioned remarkable results.
  • On February 1, 2016 at a Ministerial Meeting, “Marshaling the Health Workforce: Needed reforms to reach the 90-90-90 targets towards ending the AIDS epidemic”, organized by the African Union, the Federal Ministry of Health of Ethiopia (FMOH) and UNAIDS, the International Institute for Primary Health Care – Ethiopia was launched to assist other countries in the design and implementation of PHC programs at scale, aiming to accelerate the improvement of the health of populations in sub-Saharan Africa and beyond.
  • From 2016 to 2018, IIfPHC-E has hosted and provided  PHC related capacity building training to over 100 health professionals from Zambia, Nigeria, Tanzania, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Ghana, Sudan, Uganda and Bangladesh. In supporting the FMOH to continue offering high standard of care to the Ethiopian population, IIfPHC-E also provided leadership and management capacity development program for over 400 Ethiopian health professionals within the same time frame.