Tadias Magazine
By Tadias Staff | Events News
Updated: Wednesday, September 19, 2012
New York (TADIAS) – Hundreds of Ethiopian medical professionals from the Diaspora are expected to gather in Washington, D.C. this weekend for the 4th Global Ethiopian Diaspora Conference on Health Care & Medical Education. The meeting is being hosted by the U.S.-based NGO, People to People (P2P), a non-profit established in 1999 to serve as a networking platform for medical doctors interested in Ethiopia.
According to organizers, this year’s event will take place at the Marriott Residence Inn Washington, D.C. on Saturday, September 22nd from 8:00-5:30 PM.
The conference agenda includes a discussion centered around the issue of “brain gain” and the need for an up-to-date “tertiary hospital” in Ethiopia. “It is believed that establishing such infrastructure will reduce the number of people traveling abroad to seek high level medical care,” Dr. Elias S. Siraj, P2P’s Vice President for Medical Education and Chair of the organizing committee for the conference, said in an interview with TADIAS. “Other topics that will be covered include traditional medicine, medical education, as well as how international institutions can support collaborations between Diaspora and Ethiopia-based institutions.”
Dr. Elias, who is also an Associate Professor of Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, Director of the Diabetes Program, and head of the Endocrinology Fellowship Training program, stressed that “P2P has no political, ethnic, or religious affiliations.”
“The main missions is to mobilize the global Ethiopian Diaspora to play an active role in mitigating the impact of brain drain, mainly in the area of health care, and to ignite a passion to give back to their country of origin,” he said. “In fulfilling its mission, P2P has been able to bring together a large number of Ethiopian Diaspora healthcare professionals, and participate in supporting various sectors of the health care system as well as medical schools in Ethiopia.”
The event’s featured speakers include representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO), American International Health Alliance (AIHA), World Bank, USAID, as well as guests from Ethiopia representing five medical schools and the Ministry of Health.
Regarding the issue of “brain drain” Dr. Elias agreed with the widely held assumption that there are more Ethiopian medical doctors in the Diaspora than in Ethiopia. “As of now, I think that’s a reasonably good estimate even though no one really knows the exact number of Ethiopian medical professionals living in North America,” he said. “Irrespective of the exact number, it is clear there are a lot of us here in North America and that obviously is a loss to Ethiopia. That is why we are working hard to facilitate Diaspora involvement in Ethiopia to minimize and mitigate the impact of this loss.”
“You see, even though most of us in the Diaspora are established in the West for good, many still remain emotionally attached to their country of origin and are willing to contribute if effective mechanisms can be created,” Dr. Elias added. “Organizations such as P2P are serving as a bridge and launching pad of such “brain gain” initiatives by bringing the Diaspora together to discuss, debate and find solutions. In this regard P2P has been working with various organizations including the World Bank to facilitate ‘brain gain’ and Diaspora involvement in Ethiopian healthcare and medical education.”
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If you go:
4th Global Ethiopian Diaspora Conference on Health Care
Saturday September 22nd, 2012
8:00 AM to 5:30 PM
Residence Inn Washington, DC /Capitol
333 E St. SW
Washington, DC 20024
On Site Registration Fee: $30.00
Fee covers cost of food and refreshments.
Fee is waived for students and those in residency training.
For more information, contact: info@peoplepeople.org
Learn more about P2P at www.peoplepeople.org.
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Photo from last year’s conference:
(Photo courtesy of P2P)