Enat Ethiopia: 12 Years of Saving Lives
This publication explores a 12-year partnership between the Institute for Healthcare Improvement and Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health, demonstrating how quality improvement became a nationally embedded approach to improving maternal, newborn, and child health.
Highlights
- How IHI and Ethiopia co-created a national quality strategy over 12 years
- Real-world data showing reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality
- Stories from mothers and frontline health workers across Ethiopia
- Lessons on scaling QI from pilots to national systems
- How equity and respectful care were embedded throughout implementation
For more than a decade, the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) has partnered with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health and regional health authorities to strengthen maternal, newborn, and child health outcomes through quality improvement. Enat Ethiopia: 12 Years of Saving Lives documents this long-term collaboration and its evolution from small-scale pilots to a nationally embedded quality movement.
The publication traces the origins of IHI’s work in Ethiopia and the co-creation of a shared national vision for quality, culminating in Ethiopia’s National Health Care Quality and Safety Strategy. Central to this journey is the deliberate investment in local leadership, frontline capability, and data-driven learning, enabling health workers and system leaders to test, adapt, and sustain improvements using the Model for Improvement.
Drawing on examples from hospitals, health centers, and networks of care across the country, the document illustrates how systematic application of improvement methods — including clinical bundles, peer learning collaboratives, and coaching — led to measurable reductions in maternal and neonatal mortality, even in settings affected by conflict and resource constraints. Equity, respectful care, and community engagement are shown as integral to this work, not as standalone efforts but as core design principles woven throughout implementation.
The learning is informed by national data, facility-level improvement work, and voices from mothers, frontline providers, and government leaders. Ethiopia’s experience demonstrates how quality improvement can be institutionalized within policy, governance, and professional education, building resilience and capability at scale. The publication is shared in the hope that these lessons may inform and inspire other health systems pursuing sustained, system-wide improvement.
Download Enat Ethiopia: 12 Years Of Saving Lives
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