Else Kröner Fresenius Award for Development Cooperation in Medicine 2022
Many congratulations go to Sister Rita Schiffer on receiving the Else Kröner Fresenius Award for Development Cooperation in Medicine 2022.
The award presentation ceremony was held in Berlin on 14th October 2022 by Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung (EKFS) in cooperation the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and in association with the First International Conference of Hospital Partnerships.
Sister Rita, a gynaecologist and the Medical Director at Attat Hospital in Ethiopia, was nominated for this prestigious award by Reinhard Heiserer, Director of the Austrian international development organisation, Jugend Eine Welt. Granted annually, the Else Kröner Fresenius Award is one of the most important and best endowed prizes in the field of development cooperation in medicine. Every year, it recognises special achievements in the field of development cooperation and honours projects worldwide, serving to improve healthcare in an outstanding way - with the 100,000 euros award used directly to advance aspects of the winning projects.
Dr Jochen Bitzer, who is in charge of humanitarian funding at Else Kröner Fresenius Stiftung, told guests at the ceremony that in making this year’s choice for the humanitarian award, the Foundation is honouring a project that is designed for the long term. In particular, he notes, “Lasting basic surgical care is being provided for emergencies in the obstetrical and gynaecological sector in a rural region of Ethiopia.”
When interviewed about how she will spend the award monies for the EKFS winning project entitled, “Sustainable Surgical Care in Attat”, Sister Rita notes a number of urgent needs at Attat hospital. These include an increase in wages for its 200 employees, who are experiencing Ethiopia’s current rate of inflation, which makes a normal livelihood impossible. There is also the need to finance educational and advanced training for staff and, additionally, part of the special flooring in the surgery wing must be renewed soon. Finally, with the remainder of the money, she plans to buy intravenous infusions, surgical suture materials, sterile surgical gloves and non-sterile latex gloves for the hospital. Over the last three years, the prices for them and many other medicinal products have increased sixfold in Ethiopia, and it is not possible to pass these costs on to the hospital’s patients on the same scale.
You can read more about Sister Rita’s work at Attat Hospital in Ethiopia in this interview with her and learn why Jugend Eine Welt nominated her for the award:
This video introduces you to some of the patients at Attat Hospital:
Given that Else Kröner Fresenius Stiftung is also playing an invaluable role in funding aspects of the Society’s growing integrated healthcare mission in Kulmasa, Northern Ghana, we were delighted that Sister Rita Amponsaa-Owusu, who is at the helm of this latest development in Ghana, was invited to join the presentation ceremony in Berlin.