Bisidimo
Coordinates: 9 ° 11 ' N , 42 ° 14' E
Bisidimo is a small town in Ethiopia , approx. 20 km east of the city of Harar .
Bisidimo is not a grown village, it was founded as a development aid project ( leprosy treatment center) and consists of the hospital with additional buildings and apartments for the employees.
history
- 1958 Bisidimo becomes the first project of the German Leper Aid Organization (DAHW) founded a year earlier. A group of German development workers comes under the leadership of Count Magnis.
- 1960 The hospital is completed and inaugurated. Emperor Haile Selassie praised the hospital as "valuable help from the German people for the Ethiopian people".
- 1966 Bisidimo changes from a leprosy and asylum for permanent patients to a hospital for acute cases with an increased outpatient character.
- 1967 The first hospital turns out to be too small - the foundation stone for a 150-bed hospital is laid.
- 1971 The new hospital is inaugurated
- 1972 A large group of German development workers set up various workshops, in particular the establishment of the orthopedic workshop according to Bisidimo.
- 1977 The Ogaden War breaks out and the foreign aid workers have to leave Bisidimo.
Over the years the focus shifted from pure medical leprosy treatment to treatment including medical rehabilitation to comprehensive care with socio-economic rehabilitation. This means that in addition to the actual hospital, facilities for education , physiotherapy , occupational therapy , the provision of orthopedic aids, vocational training and projects for economic reintegration play an important role.
Over the past 40 years, lepers and former lepers and their families have settled around the Bisidimo treatment center. The reasons for staying were in particular the fear of further stigmatization in the original places of origin, but also the guarantee of further medical care and rehabilitation. Today the Genda Kore and Koffa Kassa settlements have developed into relatively independent municipalities.
In accordance with the necessities due to the illnesses found in the patients, tuberculosis treatment was initially added over the years ; in recent years, HIV patients have also been increasingly cared for. A particular focus today is on providing information on ways of infection, disease prevention and self-care. Due to new treatment options, fewer and fewer patients have to be treated as inpatients.
Current
The operation of the treatment center is now completely in Ethiopian hands, the financing is largely provided by state funds, and some medicines are provided by the World Health Organization (WHO). The DAHW (in Ethiopia GLRA - German Leprosy Relief Association) finances the technical supervision and the well-established controlling.
In Germany, Bisidimo received particular media coverage from visits by Federal Presidents Heinrich Lübke and Horst Köhler (the latter in 2004).