Building Leadership for Essential Emergency and Critical Care in Ethiopia
On 12th - 13th December 2025, leaders from across Ethiopia’s emergency and critical care community came together in Addis Ababa for an Essential Emergency and Critical Care (EECC) leadership workshop. The meeting brought together more than 19 frontline emergency and critical care clinicians, as well as senior clinical leaders and department heads, and Ministry of Health representatives, united by a shared goal: strengthening the care of critically ill patients across the health system.
The workshop focused on translating evidence into action. Participants reviewed key findings from Ethiopia’s national EECC hospital assessment, using the results as a foundation for structured discussion about what is working, where gaps remain, and which actions should be prioritised next. Rather than abstract recommendations, the emphasis was firmly on practical, system-level steps that can improve the identification and care of critically ill patients in everyday clinical settings.
The EECC workshop in progress
Through facilitated discussions, participants examined challenges such as variation in resources between facilities, gaps in processes for recognising deterioration, and the need for consistent approaches across different levels of care. Importantly, these challenges were met with solutions grounded in EECC principles: focusing on basic, life-saving actions; strengthening teamwork and communication; and embedding EECC within health system structures rather than treating it as a standalone initiative.
The workshop was organised in collaboration with the Network for Perioperative and Critical Care (N4PCC), the Ethiopian Ministry of Health, and the EECC Global team. This partnership reflects a growing recognition that EECC is not only a clinical framework, but a health systems approach that benefits from strong national leadership and cross-sector collaboration.
Participants also looked ahead to the next phase of implementation. As Dr Tigist Zewdu Getu, Emergency Service Director at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH) in Addis Ababa, noted:
“The EECC tools will be very useful. We are planning to carry out the facility assessment.”
She also highlighted how EECC can be embedded into ongoing improvement work:
“We will incorporate EECC into quality improvement projects at facility level, and propose this approach at national level.”
Dr Tigist Zewdu Getu developing EECC plans
Workshops like this are an important marker of the continued growth of EECC across multiple countries. By bringing together clinical leaders, aligning national assessment data with local priorities, and supporting champions to take ownership of implementation, EECC is increasingly being integrated into routine practice and policy. This leadership workshop in Ethiopia is one more step toward a shared vision: that no one should die in hospital from a condition that EECC could prevent.
