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Overview

Overview of RH

The Department of Reproductive Health and Health Services Management (RH&HSM) was established in February 2012 after merging the following three program units: Reproductive and Family Health, Public Health Nutrition, and Health Service Management. In 2010, Reproductive and Family Health, and Public Health Nutrition program units were in one department, while the Health Service Management program unit was in the Department of Health Management, Environmental Health and Behavioral Sciences. The mission of the Department of RH&HSM is to improve the public’s health through training highly qualified reproductive and child health professionals, public health nutritionists and training professionals in health service management with a focus on improving health policies, health systems planning and organization, monitoring and evaluation (M&E), and management for increasing efficiency and effectiveness in the quality and equity of healthcare system.

Currently, the Department of RH&HSM has 19 full-time faculty members: three professors, two associate professors, seven assistant professors, seven lecturers and five PhD holders. Apart from teaching undergraduate and postgraduate courses in reproductive and family health, public health nutrition, and health services management including health policy and management, healthcare leadership and health economics, the Department also hosts four postgraduate programmes: MPH in Reproductive and Family Health, MPH in Health Service Management, MPH in Nutrition, and Master of Hospital and Healthcare Administration (MHA). In the future, the Department plans to strengthen and expand its graduate programmes both at the Master’s and PhD levels through establishing new programmes that include MSc in M&E, MPH in Human Resources for Health, MA/MPH and PhD in Health Policy and Management, MPH and PhD in Health Economics, PhD in Reproductive and Family Health, and PhD in Nutrition.

The Department of RH&HSM is committed to providing research funding obtained from the Gates Institute at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to Masters and PhD students working on reproductive and family health; adolescent and reproductive health; and maternal and child health to successfully complete the academic research of their study. The Department is also involved in organizing and conducting short courses to respond to the needs of health professionals and other health system stakeholders who require short specialized training and study opportunities. The Department has rich experience in providing such courses. The current short courses include M&E in Population, Health and Nutrition Programmes; Reproductive Health and Development; Reproductive Health Commodity Security (RHCS); and Research Methodology.

The Department of RH&HSM has strong linkages with external institutions such as the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (USA), the University of Bergen (Norway), Umeå International School of Public Health (Sweden), INDEPTH Network, University of the Western Cape (South Africa), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), World Health Organization (WHO), the Johns Hopkins Program for International Education in Gynecology and Obstetrics (Jhpiego) and the National University of Ireland (Dublin University College) (Ireland).The Department also collaborates with FMOH, EPHA, regional health bureaus, and local higher education institutions such as Hawassa and Mekelle Universities.

The current areas of research in the Department include reproductive health, maternal health, family health and wealth, performance monitoring and accountability (PMA) 2020, use of mobile technology in reproductive health (mHealth), sexual and reproductive health, adolescent health, family planning, child health, HIV/AIDS, nutrition, substance use, health services research and policy, health economics and policy, healthcare financing, non-communicable diseases such as obesity and diabetes, and disease surveillance using HDSSs. Current, research and capacity projects that involve collaboration between the Department and collaborating researchers in Ethiopia and beyond include:

  • Strengthening Graduate Training and Research in Reproductive Health, a collaborative project between the SPH/AAU and Gates Institute, Bloomberg School of Public Health, JHU (2004-2014). The Ethiopian Principal Investigator is Prof. Mesganaw Fantahun.
  • Performance Monitoring and Accountability, 2020 (PMA2020), a collaborative research project between SPH/AAU and the JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health (USA), 2013-2018. Global Development Grant Number: 0PP1079004.  The Ethiopian Principal and Co-Principal Investigators, respectively are Dr. Solomon Shiferaw and Dr. Assefa Seme.
  • Family Health and Wealth Study (2010-2014), a collaborative research project between SPH/AAU and the JHU Bloomberg School of Public Health (USA). The Ethiopian Principal Investigator is Dr. Assefa Seme.
  • mHealth Project: Automating the contraceptive stock out management and maternity services using mobile technology in SNNPR and Amhara Regions. The Principal Investigator is Dr. Solomon Shiferaw.
  • Reproductive Health and Commodity Security Project, funded by UNFPA. The Principal Investigator is Dr. Solomon Shiferaw.