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Women's health in Ethiopia


Women's health in Ethiopia can be broken down into several sections: general health status, women’s status, maternal health, women and HIV, harmful traditional practices, and violence against women.

Ethiopia is the oldest independent and second most-populous country in Africa. A projection from the 2007 census, it has a total of 90 million inhabitants in 2015 (CSA 2015).

The sex ratio between male and female is almost equal; women in the reproductive age group constitute 23.4% of the population. The total fertility rate declined from 5.5 in 2000 to 4.1 in 2014.

The average life expectancy for an Ethiopian has increased from 45 years in 1990 to 64 years in 2014, which is higher than the African average (58 years) but lower than the global average of 70 years. This makes Ethiopia one of the six countries that made top individual gains since 1990. The achievement is attributed to the dramatic drop in the under five mortality (U5MR) and an improvement in other socio-economic determinants of health. The U5MR has dropped from 204/1000 live births in 1990 to 64/1000 live births in 2013, the target for achieving MDG4 being 67/1000 live births. Thus Ethiopian has achieved the MDG 4 by the year 2013 well ahead of the proposed time for 2015.

In Ethiopia, women of reproductive age constitute about a quarter of the entire population of 90 million. Around 80% of the labor force is engaged in agriculture, and 84% live in rural parts of the country. Poverty is multidimensional, and its impact is different on men and women. 43% of rural women aged 10 years and above are economically active, mostly in agriculture.

Good progress has been registered in maternal mortality reduction, a 69% reduction according to UN estimates from the 1400/100000 live births in 1990 to 420/100,000 live births in 2013.

Maternal wellbeing is crucial for the nations development. Majority of maternal deaths occur in the peripartum period. Deliveries attended by a skilled health care provider were shown to improve both maternal and neonatal survival. In Ethiopian most of the deliveries occur at home and unattended by skilled provider


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