Advancing respiratory care in Ethiopia

With a population exceeding 120 million, Ethiopia currently lacks formally structured training pathways in advanced pulmonary procedures, despite a high burden of respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis, lung cancer, and post-infectious lung complications. Evidence shows that minimally invasive pulmonary procedures improve patient outcomes by enabling earlier diagnosis, reducing complications, and shortening hospital stays. However, limited local procedural expertise results in delayed diagnoses and forces some patients to seek care abroad—an option inaccessible to most.

To address this gap, GHEP is working to establish Ethiopia’s first structured pulmonary procedures training pathway for physicians, in collaboration with St. Paul’s Millennium Medical College, Axon, and potential partners in the United States and other countries. The program is designed to follow a stepwise model, beginning with foundational bronchoscopy skills, progressing to advanced diagnostic and therapeutic pulmonary procedures, and ultimately supporting the development of higher-level interventional pulmonology capabilities as local capacity grows.

Globally, the advancement of pulmonary procedural training has been associated with reductions in lung disease–related morbidity and mortality through earlier detection and less invasive management. By introducing a scalable and locally led training pathway in Ethiopia, GHEP seeks to build sustainable expertise, reduce barriers to care, and create a model for expanding advanced respiratory care across Sub-Saharan Africa.

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