Expanding Access: A Holistic Health Care Approach in Rural Ethiopia
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A client receiving health care services at the Bensa Ware comprehensive health post. Credit: JSI Ethiopia
In the heart of Ethiopia’s Oromia Region, a quiet transformation is taking place. At the Bika comprehensive health post, clients wait in a clean, calm, and welcoming environment—far from the crowded, under-resourced facilities they once traveled hours to reach. This shift is the result of a bold new model redefining how primary health care is delivered in rural Ethiopia.
Comprehensive Health Posts Addressing Greatest Primary Health Needs
The Ethiopian Ministry of Health has prioritized increasing accessibility and quality of primary health services across the country. These efforts have led to mapping care gaps and transforming a number of existing rural health posts into comprehensive health posts. Located in rural, previously underserved communities, these new facilities are reshaping the client experience—offering faster, respectful care, with stocked pharmacies, trained staff, and community-tailored services that respond to local needs.
All comprehensive health posts are able to provide services in greatest demand: antenatal care, labor and delivery services, routine adult and pediatric outpatient care, early childhood immunizations, nutrition support, and treatment for sick children. They employ a health officer, clinical nurse, midwife, two health extension workers, a pharmacist, a lab technician, and human resource officers. They are required to stock a full list of essential medicines and equipment needed to provide these services. Comprehensive health posts work with community structures, such as women’s development groups and village health leaders, to build trust in community-informed health services.
A mother attending antenatal care services at Bika comprehensive health post. Credit: JSI Ethiopia
JSI Joins the Effort
Since 2022, JSI has implemented the Gates Foundation-funded Improve Primary Health Care Service Delivery project in partnership with Amref Health Africa. This project is supporting the Ministry of Health to expand access to quality primary health care. Over the last three years, JSI and Amref equipped comprehensive health posts with the necessary infrastructure, essential medicines, and health worker guides; trained nearly 1,000 health workers on redefined service packages; and provided community engagement to foster trust in this new service delivery platform.
JSI has supported the transition of 25 health posts into fully functional, comprehensive health posts, conducting in-depth interviews with both clients and health workers to assess their experiences of care. Between April 2022 and April 2025, these redefined health posts provided family planning services to 74,036 clients, antenatal care to 8,706 women, labor and delivery services to 5,014 mothers, and administered Penta1 immunizations to 15,146 children. With the right infrastructure, staffing, and services, comprehensive health posts have proven an excellent approach to increased access to high quality health care for many in Ethiopia’s most remote areas.