1. Background of the Project
As a result of the independence war and border conflict with Ethiopia, the State of Eritrea has faced a severe macro-economic environment. Its annual Gross National Income (GNI) per capita is US$220 per year and 66% of the population lives in poverty. However, the Eritrean government has made great efforts to improve its national health status. The country successfully reduced its Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Under-Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) to below the African average.
In this context, in 2004, the Ministry of Health in Eritrea (MOH) requested grant aid from the Japanese government to improve local medical services by training medical personnel and upgrading medical equipments. Based on the results of a preliminary study implemented by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) in 2005, the Japanese government provided medical equipments for four core secondary health facilities which were among the most backward in the country. Also, Japan’s grant aid was applied toward upgrading training equipments for the Bio-Medical Engineering Unit (BMEU: 31 members), which was under the direct control of the MOH and responsible for maintenance of medical equipments at all public hospitals in the country.
Most of the medical equipments in Eritrea provided by donors such as Italy were used items. Thus, end-users at the hospitals did not develop an awareness of the importance of maintenance of medical equipments. The preliminary study for grant aid affirmed that the BMEU had certain technological capabilities to repair medical equipments. However, its performance did not cover preventive maintenance and management of medical equipments. The MOH recognized this problem and aspired to build up a preventive maintenance and management system centered on the BMEU. (When they requested grant aid, training equipments for the BMEU were accorded priority over medical equipments for hospitals.)
With this situation in mind, the MOH, taking advantage of this occasion, determined to convert the BMEU from an institution focused on the repair of medical equipments provided by grant aid, into a leading agency responsible for the preventive maintenance and management of such equipments. Also, in the medical environment, the MOH is attempting to raise awareness and transform consciousness among medical equipment end-users through the introduction of new techniques such as 5S. Aiming for the further development of preventive maintenance and management of medical equipments, Eritrea requested this technical cooperation project from the Japanese government.
