Hawassa University Ob-Gyn Collaboration
UW Ob-Gyn and the Hawassa University Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology (HU Ob-Gyn) began collaborating in 2013, in pursuit of our mutual goal of improving and increasing access to healthcare for women in Southern Ethiopia. To date, the partnership has revolved around curriculum development for ob-gyn residents and medical students at the Hawassa University College of Medicine and Health Sciences, and a UW-Madison Global Health Institute (GHI) seed grant to promote partnership building and faculty/learner exchange between the two departments. Over the past three years, HU Ob-Gyn faculty have visited Madison, WI, and other U.S. locations for professional development, clinical and quality improvement training, and invited presentations. Two of these recent visits were funded by competitive international scholarships from Pfizer/The International Continence Society (ICS) and the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics (APGO). Since 2013, UW Ob-Gyn faculty, residents, and researchers have made several visits to Hawassa. Inspired by the growing collaboration between UW and HU departments of Ob-Gyn, Dean Henok Tedele, MD, of the HU College of Medicine and Health Sciences, led a leadership delegation from HU to UW to explore a broader partnership between the two universities, which would span colleges of Medicine, Agriculture, Law, and Engineering. A memorandum of understanding (MOU) was agreed upon by UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank and Hawassa University leadership, which will allow for broad faculty/learner exchange, as well as research and grant collaboration, between UW-Madison and HU.