Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has officially launched a comprehensive primary and secondary health care support programme in the East Wollega and West Wollega zones of Ethiopia’s Oromia region.
The support aims to restore access to essential services for host communities and internally displaced people in hard-to-reach rural areas, while strengthening the capacity of key health facilities.
In these rural zones, limited movement of patients, staff and supplies – along with shortages of medicines and medical equipment, financial barriers and weak referral systems – have made it harder to deliver timely, quality healthcare. Some facilities have operated at reduced capacity or faced temporary interruptions.
As a result, communities have experienced untreated illness, challenges in sustaining immunization and maternal health services, a high burden of malaria with a greater risk of disease outbreaks, and increased pressure on the health facilities that remain functional.
Despite the scale of need, the presence of humanitarian organisations in these zones remains limited, leaving significant gaps in both primary and secondary care.
