Ohio State University has announced a new partnership with government agencies in the African nation of Ethiopia. Under the agreement, the university is currently holding the One Health Summer Institute which will involve 20 Ohio State faculty and students in an educational program for hundreds of Ethiopian students, healthcare professionals, and government officials. Classes for the One Health Summer Institute are being held at Addis Ababa University and the University of Gondar.
This summer the Ohio State contingent in Ethiopia will concentrate on educational efforts involving cervical cancer screening, rabies prevention, and improvements in food security and safety. The situation in Ethiopia is critical. There is only one physician for every 38,000 people in the country.
Wondwossen A. Gebreyes, professor of veterinary preventive medicine and director of global programs for Ohio State’s College of Veterinary Medicine, states, “Ethiopia has pumped a lot of resources into its educational system, but this has created a knowledge gap because there are not enough professionals with the proper teaching skills in key sciences to simultaneously increase the availability of health-care practitioners. Ohio State will not be there forever – we intend to build their capacity to train future trainers.”
Professor Gebreyes holds a doctor of veterinary medicine degree from the University of Addis Ababa and a Ph.D. in comparative biomedical sciences from North Carolina State University. He has taught at Ohio State since 2006.
