Airlines

SickKids Flying High With Ethiopian Airlines

Ethiopian Airlines Canada’s partnership with SickKids Foundation in Toronto helped support the SickKids Centre for Global Child Health’s (C-GCH) Capacity Building programs in sub-Saharan Africa last year.

The 24 round-trip tickets donated by Ethiopian Airlines Canada in late 2017-2018 were divided between the C-GCH and the SickKids International Patient Office, which is supported by The Herbie Fund. The Herbie Fund helps children around the world receive life-saving surgery and treatment at SickKids in Toronto.

Using the donated tickets, C-GCH team members flew to Ethiopia, Mali and Ghana to assess, plan and deliver important newborn and child health programs in 2018.

In Ethiopia, C-GCH is delivering a specialized newborn care education training module for health workers working with small and sick newborns in remote areas.

Through the C-GCH International Program Evaluation Unit, C-GCH is working with regional and national Ministries of Health and NGOs to evaluate ongoing project to strengthen maternal, newborn and child health in Mali’s Koulikoro and Sikasso regions.

In Ghana, the SickKids-Ghana Paediatric Nursing Education Partnership (PNEP) aims to contribute to reducing preventable deaths and improving wellbeing of newborns and children in Ghana, and advance both child health and the profession of nursing in Ghana through practice-focused paediatric nursing education.

Birhan Abate, country manager for Ethiopian Airlines in Canada, said: “We are very proud to support SickKids. By providing flights we know it does contribute towards a positive change for many families and healthcare professionals. It’s a partnership we value and know we are supporting a great cause.”

Seen in the Photo

Birhan Abate Ethiopian Airlines Canada country manager; Wendy Dempsey, associate director, cause marketing, SickKids Foundation; and David Timmins, Ethiopian Airlines Canada, national sales manager.