ETH 14 - MANDURA MEDIUM CLINIC
Project Location
enishangul-Gumuz is one of Ethiopia's eleven regions and is divided into three zones: Metekel, Assosa, and Kamashi. Eighty-six percent of the population of approximately 600,000 lives in rural areas, where pastoralism and agriculture are practiced. Healthcare is very poor; in fact, there are only two government hospitals in the entire region. The closest hospital to the mission is in Pawi, about 40 km away. One of the most notable characteristics of Benishangul-Gumuz is the coexistence of three ethnic groups: Agaw, Gumuz, and Amara. The scarcity of natural resources has always led to fierce rivalry between these groups, making the region unstable and dangerous.
The Comboni Missionary Sisters have been present in the Metekel area since 2000, invited by the Cardinal of Addis Ababa, in the village of Kuter Hulet, a couple of kilometers from the town of Mandura. In 2020, the conflict that erupted between the Gumuz and Amhara communities in our area caused many deaths and the displacement of the community. The clinic, the school, and our home suffered significant damage, forcing the closure of our operations.
Despite the difficulties, we managed to remain in the area and, over time, repaired the damage and restarted pastoral, social, educational, and healthcare activities. Notably, the lengthy bureaucratic process to reopen the clinic was completed in October 2025, when its activities—previously conducted informally—officially resumed.
Project description
The clinic can only operate to treat patients who come to the clinic: the government does not grant permission to operate in the area for prevention and treatment due to the general insecurity. Two sisters, both professional nurses, work in the clinic, caring for a growing number of patients and caring for pregnant women before and after childbirth and newborns. The support staff, for the proper functioning of the clinic, includes a pharmacist, a laboratory technician, an administrative employee, a cleaner, and two security guards. Staff salaries are paid by the clinic because the government does not contribute to salary costs, even though it sponsors national programs such as TB prevention.
Since the area is still politically unstable, travel is dangerous and is carried out only via private minibuses "contracted" with the various armed groups that control the paved road connecting Bahr Dar, reached by plane from Addis Ababa, to the Meketel region. Medicines are therefore purchased online from private distributors in Bahr Dar, and the purchased material is then sent to the clinic by minibus. Both the purchase and the subsequent transportation are therefore very expensive.
Objectives
- To promote and improve the health situation in the area through treatment activities
- To collaborate with the local community, working together to make health more accessible to all, without distinction of religion, ethnicity, culture and age
- To give special attention to the care of mothers and children in order to reduce maternal infant mortality.
Beneficiaries
Direct: about 15,000 people assisted by the clinic
Indirect: society
Referent sisters: sr Lydia Singagna and sr Nives Battaglia
Project's costs