By FikreJesus Amahazion (PhD), In recent years, a number of commentators have regularly referred to Eritrea, a young, developing country located in the volatile Horn of Africa, as isolationist, the “North Korea” of Africa, or the “hermit kingdom.” While such statements suggest Eritrea remains detached from the global community, closer analysis reveals that they are […]
Continue ReadingBy FikreJesus Amahazion, Nestled in the turbulent Horn of Africa (HOA) region, Ethiopia is Africa’s oldest independent modern nation-state and second most populous.[i] The second poorest country in the world according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Multidimensional Poverty Index, [ii] Ethiopia consistently ranks extremely low upon a variety of socioeconomic, development, and human […]
Continue ReadingThe Orotta National Referral Hospital is a one giant hospital comprising of five big hospitals: the 200 bed surgical hospital, Berhan Ayni (optical hospital), Kidistti Mariam Psychiatric hospital, a 300 bed Pediatric hospital and Mekane Hiwot Maternity hospital. The Orotta School of Medicine was then first established in 2004 inside the Orotta National Referral Hospital. BY […]
Continue ReadingBy FikreJesus Amahazion, A UN delegation headed by Mr. Abdoulaye Mar Dieye, Assistant Secretary General and Regional Director of UNDP/RBA, and Chairman of UNDG-ESA Mission, recently visited Eritrea to monitor development work and engage in dialogue with development partners. One of his findings was that Eritrea is “making huge progress on [the UN] MDGs.”[1]
Continue ReadingBy FikreJesus Amahazion, In “Child Marriage: Health and Rights – A Quick Note,”[i] I introduced several stark challenges that child or adolescent marriage (denoted as under 18 years of age, hereafter referred to as child marriage) poses for positive health outcomes and the realization of human rights.
Continue ReadingBy FikreJesus Amahazion, In recent times, the international community has made great strides in combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, preventable diseases, and other public health issues. For example, the global focus on immunization has seen full coverage increase from around 5% in the 1970s to 83% today [i]; international funding commitments have witnessed a dramatic scale up of […]
Continue ReadingBy Fikrejesus Amahazion, According to UNAIDS, East and Southern Africa remain the areas most heavily affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, with 10 countries in the region accounting for 34% of the world’s HIV/AIDS cases.[1] However, amidst these stark figures and though HIV/AIDS remains one of Africa’s most significant public health challenges,[2] significant progress has been made. For […]
Continue ReadingBy Fikrejesus Amahazion, Across the developing world and particularly within sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), energy deficiencies constitute immense challenges to development. The African Development Bank Group notes that, “…the entire installed generation capacity of Africa’s 48 Sub-Saharan countries is just 68 gigawatts, no more than Spain’s…,” and that, “…as much as one quarter of that capacity is […]
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