Efforts have been made to fulfill recruitment and deployment of human resources in the health
system in line with the standards put out by WHO. With regard to the training of integrated
emergency surgery and obstetrics officers to date, professionals have been trained and deployed in
work, and another 400 students are in training. With reference to accelerated midwifery training,
1558 and 1791 professionals were trained and deployed in 2011/12 and 2012/13 respectively.
Currently 1,746 and 1,190 midwifes are taking courses in second and third round training. This has
meant that midwifes to population ratio has improved from 1:39,758 in 2009/10 to 1:14,838 in
2012/13. The total number of nurses has increased from 26,423 in 2009/10 to 37,218 in 2012/13.
The physician to population ratio has also improved from1:37,996 in 2009/10 to 1:26,943 in
2012/13. Nevertheless more work must be done to reach 1:10,000 standard of WHO for developing
countries. Currently there are 10,232 physicians enrolled in university medical training programs in
2012/13.52
The government is also making efforts to implement universal health insurance. This is with the
view to ensure that every Ethiopian has access to good health care services, to protect families from
the financial hardship of huge medical bills, and ensure equitable distribution of health care costs
among different income groups. Ethiopia's Social Health Scheme will include all family health
services and the curative care that is part of the Essential Health Package in Ethiopia. Curative
services will include in-patient and out-patient services delivered through accredited public and
private health facilities. Coverage will be mandatory for everyone working in the formal sector. The
social health insurance is to be financed through payroll/pension contributions made by employers
and employees. Contribution will be based on a member‟s level of income and will be a fixed
percentage of their salary. Employee contributions will be matched by an employer contribution of
equal amount.53
52GTP
2012/13 report, p.vii
53http://healthmarketinnovations.org/program/ethiopia-social-health-insurance
83