Medical Training

Ethiopia

In northern Ethiopia, our work has focused on something that can outlast any single grant, visiting physician, or organization: local medical expertise.

Help us end fistula

7

urogynecology Fellowship graduates

4,300+

procedures completed by Fellows during training

12

physical therapy graduates strengthening local rehabilitation

2025–2028

fellowship relaunched to train Ethiopia’s next specialists

Closing gaps in medical education, together.

Our work in Ethiopia has been built around that idea: identify gaps in medical education, develop rigorous training programs, and prepare Ethiopian clinicians and educators to lead long after the original investment ends.

A health worker caring for a mother and baby in Ethiopia

Listening to local priorities · Ethiopia

Listening First

Fellowship training in Mekelle: Expertise that stays.

The partnership began by listening to Ethiopian health leaders and identifying where specialized training could have the greatest impact.

The goal was long-term local capacity, not short-term outside intervention.

Local Leadership Specialist Care

Training the Trainers

Expertise That Endures.

Training focused on building Ethiopian expertise in fistula and pelvic health care.

Graduates return to their own institutions equipped to treat patients, mentor colleagues, and strengthen care from within.

Training Specialists

Leadership Local Teams

Health professionals discussing patient care and training

Building local expertise · Ethiopia

Medical team providing specialized fistula care during clinical training

Urogynecology Fellowship · Ethiopia

Urogynecology Fellowship

Advanced training builds lasting expertise.

The fellowship developed specialists equipped to provide advanced pelvic health and fistula care.

Its train-the-trainers model multiplied that knowledge as graduates began teaching and mentoring others.

0 Fellowship graduates

0 Procedures during training

Beyond Surgery

Recovery becomes part of the model.

Care expanded beyond surgery to include physical therapy and rehabilitation.

Training local providers helped make recovery support part of a stronger continuum of care.

12 Physical therapy graduates

Clinical training presentation on rehabilitation and muscle training

Rehabilitation training · Ethiopia

Medical staff caring for a fistula patient in a hospital

Continuing care through disruption · Ethiopia

Through Disruption

Local expertise keeps care moving.

Conflict, displacement, and health system disruption created extraordinary challenges for patients and providers.

The value of locally rooted expertise became even clearer when outside access was limited.

Next cohort begins

A new generation of urogynecologists starts training.

The fellowship welcomed its newest cohort in 2025, continuing the pipeline of specialists serving women with complex pelvic health needs.

Ethiopian graduates are now helping train the specialists who will carry the work forward.

2025–28 Fellowship Local Mentorship Pelvic Health

Fistula education and specialist training in Ethiopia

Training the next generation · Ethiopia

A Model Built to Last

Local expertise creates lasting care. Ethiopian specialists are not only treating patients, they are preparing the next generation to lead.

Support Our Mission

The Ethiopia Model

Train a specialist. Grow a teacher.
Strengthen a system.

The people being trained today become the infrastructure of tomorrow.

Surgical Training

Fellows develop the specialized surgical expertise needed to treat complex pelvic floor disorders and childbirth injuries.

Medical Education

Training is designed so graduates can become teachers, mentors, and leaders within their own institutions.

Local Capacity

As graduates return to hospitals and universities, specialized knowledge spreads beyond a single fellowship or center.

More than a training program

The people being trained today become the infrastructure of tomorrow.

A health system becomes stronger when expertise no longer has to be brought in from somewhere else. That’s what makes this work different.

A Fellowship graduate can treat women who previously had limited access to specialized pelvic health care. But that graduate can also teach residents, mentor colleagues, strengthen a department, and prepare the specialist who comes next.

Physical therapy graduates are now helping teach the programs that trained them. Fellowship graduates have returned to their own institutions with advanced surgical skills. Clinical leaders are building services that can continue long after the original investment ends.

The impact doesn’t stop with the person who was trained. It moves through every person they go on to teach.

What’s next

What happens when expertise begins multiplying on its own?

From 2025 to 2028, the fellowship will train its next cohort of urogynecologists.

But the larger goal goes beyond the number of Fellows who graduate. It’s to continue building a network of Ethiopian specialists capable of expanding advanced women’s healthcare, mentoring colleagues, strengthening institutions, and preparing the clinicians who follow them. Every graduate increases the number of women who can reach specialized care. Every graduate who becomes a teacher increases that reach again.

Support our cause