Strengthening Ethiopia`s Urban Health Program (SEUHP)
To address health challenges related to rapid urbanization, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-supported Strengthening Ethiopia’s Urban Health Program (SEUHP) will promote urban health leadership and provide capacity building support in cities and towns across seven regions in Ethiopia. SEUHP extends the commitment of the previous USAID/Urban Health Extension Program (USAID/UHEP) by providing the Government of Ethiopia (GoE), civil society partners, and urban communities of Ethiopia with cost-effective, high quality, and appropriately targeted support and services. SEUHP’s strategies are closely aligned with PEPFAR’s blueprint, to help make the ambitious but reachable goal of achieving an AIDS-free generation in Ethiopia a reality.
Activity Description
SEUHP focuses on strengthening the critical pillars of public health: human resources for health, evidencebased approaches, quality improvement, demand creation, data analysis and utilization, community engagement, leadership and management, and commodities and supply distribution. In Year 1, SEUHP is focusing on building capacity in core public health services including maternal, newborn, and child health, HIV and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT), and TB. Beginning in Year 2, SEUHP will work with the GoE and partners to include water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and non-communicable diseases.
Expected Outcomes
Over the life of the Program, SEUHP will support 49 cities/towns. SEUHP fosters leadership to help its’ Ethiopian partners develop and implement innovative national and regional urban strategies. These include:
- Supporting the development of a technical advisory group to serve as a nexus point for urban health;
- Promoting market-driven and private service providers' inclusive approaches to urban sanitation and waste management;
- Promoting GIS mapping for public and communal latrines, and water points;
- Piloting of public community latrines with biogas digesters and cafeterias for vulnerable groups;
- Scaling-up model Urban Health Extension centers;
- Fostering structured urban health learning visits across regions;
- Promoting use of technology to address public health challenges (e.g., e-health, mhealth); and
- Documenting and sharing activities with global urban health community (focus on South-to-South sharing).
