More about EKC
The goals of the Else Kröner Center for Cancer Care in Ethiopia (EKC) in Addis Ababa/Ethiopia is to improve oncological care for women and to extend it to rural Ethiopia - to be implemented within the partnership between the Medical School of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and Addis Ababa University. In 2020, the partnership between the universities was officially launched.
Over the past 10 years, multiple partners from Ethiopia and Germany have collaborated to launch numerous projects related to women's oncology care, among others cancer prevention and survivorship programs and a lively exchange of students and medical staff in the form of a "hub and spoke" model and between the two cities. These activities will now be bundled and jointly coordinated under the umbrella of the newly established Else Kröner Center for Cancer Care in Ethiopia.
On the way to achieving the goals:
So far, the premises for the "Walk-in Cancer Center" for women with complaints have been set up and the procedures designed. Agreements have been made with the 8 cooperating hospitals in the periphery.
Due to Corona-related several-month restrictions on curfews in Ethiopia, the training of professionals and early detection components could only take place to a limited extent. In exchange, scientific work, baseline data collection, and preparation of educational materials and modules for the affected population in the periphery were successfully advanced. In addition, practical support was provided to physicians and oncology patients through procurement of masks and protective equipment and Covid19 testing.