Gezashign D. Kassa is a national nursing and midwifery service coordinator in Ethiopia. She currently serves as coordinator of the hospital reform care team in the clinical service directorate at the Federal Ministry of Health in Ethiopia. In addition, she chairs a national working group on nursing and midwifery care, which developed a reference manual and other tools to improve quality of care nationwide. She is also a member of the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) working group and participated in the development of infection prevention guidelines. She has led numerous national hospital performance evaluation review meetings, which are organized by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with regions every quarter. Â Gezashign earned a Master of Public Health from Hawassa University and a Bachelor of Nursing from Addis Ababa University.
Applied Project Title: Unmet Need of Family Planning
Maternal morbidity and mortality rates in Ethiopia are among the highest in the world. Family planning is one of the most effective ways to reduce this trend by shielding women from unintended pregnancies. This project examined how Ethiopia could improve its family planning policies, integrate them into other health care services, increase accessibility to, and improve the quality of, contraceptives, and build capacity among health care providers. Recommendations include standardized training for health personnel, creation of a uniform scope of practice for nursing and midwifery, establishment of professional councils and creation of a nursing act and code of conduct. Kassa believes these interventions would result in a higher standard of care, lower rates of maternal and child mortality, and simple and accessible family planning for all women in Ethiopia.