In Ethiopia, Child-Help donates shunts for a surgical program run by “Reach Another Foundation” (RAF) and to Dr. Tony Magana at the university hospital in Mekele. Child-help supported the creation of the Ethiopian spina bifida association and trained two nurses in continence management. Twenty-two nurses were trained in two CIC (Clean Intermittent Catheterization) trainings.
In 2018, Child-Help supported a partner in Northern Ethiopia to chart the incidence in detail. The results are staggering. They are so serious that an urgent high-level planning meeting was convened. In Mek’ele, the capital of the Tigray region in Ethiopia, the incidence of spina bifida would be 10 times higher than elsewhere (14 out of 1,000).
