Human Projects

The 2005 statistics by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that the child mortality rate under the age of 5 in Ethiopia is 175 per 1,000 for males and 156 for females. Ninety-six neonatal deaths occur per 1,000 in Ethiopia as compared to six in the United States. Forty percent of all pediatric deaths in Ethiopia are neonatal.

The number of hospitals and medical facilities in Addis Ababa, the capitol, and throughout the rest of the country are insufficient to treat the entire population of 77 million. In addition, the infrastructure and level of care provided by the facilities are woefully inadequate by western standards. The problem is severe on many levels: The lack of neonatal and pediatric intensive care facilities to serve the people of Ethiopia has resulted in the high infant mortality rates in the country, which are among the highest in the world.

After careful evaluation of the situation in conjunction with a number of the existing hospitals and the government, the Amsale Gessesse Memorial Foundation has embarked on a cooperative effort to improve the quality and availability of medical care for the people and particularly the children of Ethiopia.

The course of action being embarked upon is two-fold: 1) the upgrading of equipment , facilities, and care at existing Hospital pediatric units and the construction of a new, state-of-the art, Children’s Hospital in Addis Ababa.

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the Universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest--a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. - Albert Einstein