Working Together: New Distribution Partnership in Ethiopia
Laerdal Global Health and Laerdal Medical solutions are now more accessible in Ethiopia thanks to a new agreement signed with local distributor, Starchain Medical.
Ethiopia has made progress in reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in the past decade and the country remains committed to ensuring quality healthcare reaches its 110 million strong population. This commitment is one of the reasons the Saving Little Lives project has been implemented in parts of the country.
However, data from the Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation 2021 suggests there are still 26.2 neonatal deaths per 1000 live births in Ethiopia, which remains above the global average of 18. In 2020, Ethiopia had more than 10,000 estimated maternal deaths, meaning it remains as one of the worst affected countries globally. These statistics highlight that there is still work to be done to reach both the neonatal mortality target and the maternal mortality target of the Sustainable Development Goal 3 by 2030.
In support of our goal of helping save one million more lives every year, we are pleased to announce a formal distribution partnership with Ethiopia distributor Starchain Medical. Based in Addis Ababa, Starchain Medical are specialists in distributing medical supplies and equipment.
To make the greatest impact with our solutions in Ethiopia, we know accessibility is vital. That’s why we have been working for over a year now on a comprehensive selection process for a local distributor. Starchain is an ambitious company, with a clear mission to get the best products into healthcare settings so that the people of Ethiopia have access to quality healthcare. We have already conducted the first training session on our solutions, and we are excited to see the impact this partnership will facilitate in the future.
By partnering with Laerdal Global Health, we are now able to extend our neonatal care product solutions to the delivery room, which complements the existing solutions we supply for Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). We see Laerdal’s fetal and newborn monitoring technologies, along with their resuscitation solutions as being a key factor for success in reducing perinatal mortality in our country.
Alemnesh Reta, Laerdal Global Health’s Implementation Manager for Ethiopia, will lead the onboarding of Starchain Medical and has already conducted their first training session. Alemnesh will ensure the team in Ethiopia have a high degree of knowledge about the solutions, understand how they operate and where they can make the greatest impact.
Starchain Medical will represent both Laerdal Global Health and Laerdal Medical in Ethiopia.