Eritrea: Gash Barka livestock and agricultural development project

The Gash Barka Livestock and Agricultural Development Project was approved by IFAD’s Executive Board on 23 April 2002 and became effective on 24 February 2003.
The project operates in zoba (administrative region) Gash Barka, the zoba most affected by the hostility between Ethiopia and Eritrea.  The project targets rural poor people, and in particular, woman-headed households, resettled families, and children under 5.  About 40 per cent of rural households are headed by women, which reflect the devastating effect of the border war.  The project aims to improve health and reduce mortality and morbidity in the project area.

Project achievements as of December 2008

• Community-based sanitation initiatives have led to widespread adoption of normal pit latrines, access to potable water supply has increased significantly, and communities have been organized and trained to operate and manage the water points.
• Extensive on-the-job training of health professionals, village health workers and community members has been undertaken.
• The logistic capacity of the zoba health services has been strengthened through the provision of ambulance services and development of maternity homes. 
• The supply of pharmaceuticals has improved and supervision of health facilities has been enhanced.
• Records/data management at health centres/stations/hospitals has been enhanced and promoted through the supply of clinical cards and registers. 
• A hospital-based maintenance workshop and a mobile workshop facility have been equipped and are functioning.
• Disappearance of vaccine-preventable diseases, reduction of malaria and HIV infections. 

Some examples of the project’s successes

• The annual malaria morbidity has fallen from 485 for under 5 year olds in 2004, to 9 in 2006, and for over 5 year olds from 1,865 in 2004 to 16 in 2006. 
• Health-worker-assisted delivery has increased from about 6.5 per cent in 2004 to about 17.5 per cent in 2007; and environmental sanitation awareness has improved, reaching 60 - 80 per cent of the population in the nine participatory hygiene and sanitation transformation sites. The beneficiaries reached as at the end of 2007 have been estimated at 47,490 households as against the appraisal estimate of 29,722 households.