During parallel mini study tours on maternal health and young girls and climate change and population held from 29-31 October 2009, European Parliamentarians had the chance to visit projects in and around Addis Ababa. The study tours were organised by EPF and kindly hosted by the Family Guidance Association of Ethiopia (FGAE) and the Ethiopia Population Health and Environment Consortium (CIPHE).

The study tour on maternal health and young girls took MPs to the Fistula Hospital and the FGAE Addis Ababa model clinic. This enabled Parliamentarians to learn more about the unmet SRHR needs of the second most populated country in Africa (79 million). Here, only one in fifteen women has access to contraception and only one in five women has access to education. Two thirds of the total population are under the age of 25 and Ethiopian women have 6 children on average. Without adequate access to family planning services and contraception, Ethiopia’s population will double within 22 years.

Ethiopia is also extraordinarily affected by climate change and farmers have to fight with poor harvests because of increased droughts. These challenges were addressed during the study tour on climate change and population where MPs visited projects such as the community home-based care project and an urban gardening project in provinces most affected by HIV/AIDS where farmers, especially women, learn to increase their food intake and income level.