Common Country Assessment (CCA) - ECSS | Eritrean Center for ...

4.6 Health and Nutrition
Preliminary
• Notable progress has been made towards improving the health status of the population especially in the post war period. The health facilities previously damaged have been repaired and new
ones constructed; more health personnel have been trained; and a steady supply of drugs and other requisites has been maintained. The result is that Eritrea is on track to achieve the MDGs
relating to child and maternal mortality and malaria. Health facility data for 2003 indicate that non-communicable diseases such as hypertension, diabetes mellitus and liver diseases are on the
increase, a reflection of increasing urbanization and lifestyle changes. However, communicable diseases remain the overwhelming cause of morbidity and mortality. Malnutrition is a serious
problem in Eritrea. It is a health-related issue but it cuts across many sectors. A fistula needs assessment study conducted in 2003 revealed a significant prevalence of this condition,
highlighting the risks of adolescent pregnancy, early marriage and inadequate safe motherhood services.
Progress made towards national priorities
• Over the past five years Eritrea has scored successes on a wide front in the health sector. As presented in the 2004 MDGR, the progress described earlier has translated into the following:
- Mortality among children under five years of age fell from 136 deaths per 1,000 live births during 1993-9 to 93 in 2001-03.
- Infant mortality declined from 72 deaths per 1,000 live births to 48 over the same period.
- Maternal deaths per 100,000 live births during 1993-95 were put at 983 and are estimated to have dropped to about 581 during 2001-03.Health facility data, which do not give a full picture
of deliveries in the country, yielded a maternal mortality ratio of 230 for 2001-03.
- The number of outpatient and inpatient cases of malaria per 1,000 was 22 in 2001-03; comparable data are not available for the 1993-95 period. Malaria deaths in health facilities declined
sharply from a little over 400 in 1998 to 16 deaths in 2004.
• The gains can be attributed to a number of factors. One important factor is the extensive health infrastructure that has been constructed all over the country. This has improved access to
trained health personnel and medicines considerably. The second factor is the focus on primary health care. In practice, this focus has translated into programs aimed at addressing the main
communicable diseases: malaria, HIV/AIDS, TB and the vaccine-preventable diseases.
• The third factor is the significant level of support from the development partners. No other sector has received sustained support on a scale comparable to that of health. With regard to
communicable diseases, key factors are improved case management skills of health workers, effective environmental control measures, the use of insecticide treated mosquito nets and
improvement in the health-seeking behaviour of the population.
• Furthermore, food supplementation provided to children through collaboration between Health and Education sectors and the multiplicity of partners active against the practice of FGM have
been instrumental in saving the lives of women and children and the modest decline in the incidence of FGM, most noticeable in young people.