Hospital partnerships in Eritrea - Virtual exchange of German hospital partners

“We have patience and the goal remains the goal” - this is what a German hospital partner said with regard to the current situation in the project implementation in Eritrea. Due to the Covid19 pandemic, German-Eritrean hospital partnerships are currently facing some challenges. In order to enable an exchange of experiences and networking between the German hospital partners, the hospital partnership team organized a 90-minute virtual meeting on February 16, 2021. As part of this, the German hospital partners of the currently 14 ongoing hospital partnership projects in Eritrea exchanged ideas (see world map). These are active at a total of five different hospitals and one laboratory in the cities of Barentu, Keren and the capital Asmara.

At the beginning of the virtual meeting, the GIZ consultants Etienne Lacroze, Jan-Patrick Ostrowski and Johannes Kleinschmidt welcomed the hospital partners. Afterwards, the 13 German partners who participated introduced themselves and shared their impressions and experiences from the last months with their hospital partnership colleagues. During the subsequent open exchange it became clear that the implementation of projects in the hospitals is severely restricted by the Covid19 pandemic and the corresponding travel restrictions. Therefore, the focus of the hospital partnerships is currently on the exchange of information and keeping in touch with their Eritrean partners. While communication is working well in some partnerships, the pandemic has made it much more difficult for others. Another issue that is currently occupying the hospital partners is the procurement and safe international transport of medicines to Eritrea as well as onward transport to the local hospitals.

Currently, the German hospital partners have little hope for the complete resumption of project implementation and a timely personal reunion with their Eritrean colleagues. Looking towards the end of the year, the outlook is more hopeful. One German hospital partner said during the virtual exchange: “We are dying to fly back to Eritrea.”