Ethiopian Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG) is conducting a Self-Care Trailblazer Group (SCTG) Ethiopia Planning workshop at Best Western Plus Addis Ababa Hotel. The half-day session that started on November 1, 2023 will end with another half-day session on November 2, 2023.

The objective of the two days session is sharing the state of self-care in Ethiopia and the vision for 2024 and beyond.  Participating in the two days event are National Self-Care Network (NSN) partners and the Ministry of Health.

The two days event took place as part of a project entitled- Support for the scale-up of self-care policy and practice in the national health system by national and sub-national advocacy planning and implementation.,

The participating organizations at the SCTG Ethiopia Planning Workshop are making significant progress in advancing self-care in the country. They are working on a variety of initiatives, including developing and implementing guidelines, providing training to providers, and raising awareness of self-care among the public.

Most partners have has provided administrative support to the Ministry of Health (MoH) in developing a national self-care guideline and has piloted self-care with the MoH. PSI has also piloted self-care in Ethiopia with the MoH and has provided capacity building training sessions to providers

The MoH is committed to moving forward with self-care and has been gathering data from learning sites.. ESOG Communications has made self-care a subject of media content on all of the Society's platforms, including radio shows, digital media platforms, and newspaper columns.

Overall, the progress of the participating organizations at the SCTG Ethiopia Planning Workshop in advancing self-care in the country is encouraging. While there are still some challenges to be overcome, the organizations are committed to working together to make self-care a reality for all Ethiopians.

The main objective of the project is to establish and support NSN, which will coordinate self-care advocacy at the national and subnational level to transform healthcare systems to ultimately achieve autonomy, power, and control of health care in the hands of individuals.

By implementing the project ESOG hopes to increase service coverage and access, reduce health disparities and inequity, increase quality of services, improve health and social outcomes, and reduce cost and efficient use of healthcare resources and services.

The project oversaw the establishment of National Self Care Network, which is expected to lead a consultative process to define a coordinated advocacy strategy for self-care. Members of the Network are expected to include representatives of multilateral and bilateral organizations, private foundations, government, civil society, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, advocacy groups, research and academic institutions, and the private sector.