Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Addis Ababa (Agenzia Fides) - In Ethiopia, out of 80 million inhabitants, only 0.7% are Catholic, but the Catholic Church runs 12% of medical centers throughout the country, all included in the public health system. In Kaliti Akaki district, a poor district of the capital Addis Ababa, the population of 45 000 inhabitants is without any health service and there are centers specialized in maternal infant care and tuberculosis assistance. People live in huts, without shoes, and with few clothes. A group of professional volunteers, supported by the Spanish NGO Fundacion Canfranc, and by NGOs in other countries. One of these is the Counseling Center that deals with people with AIDS, gives them assistance, drugs and teaches them how to take them. Each week social workers pay the sick a visit. Thanks to this project, assistance to sick people continues until the return to be autonomous. But if they die, a special program takes care of orphans until they reach legal age. Three doctors, two interpreters, seven young men take turns for two weeks to provide training to personnel health care. In many of these places there is no public transport, water is scarce and electricity is very precarious. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 22/6/2012)
