At present, the U.S. has approximately 5,000 full-time adult rheumatologists. By the year 2025, that number will decline to roughly 3,600.1 Sounds dire, right? Hold that thought. Question: What country has 99 million people and no adult rheumatologists? Answer: Ethiopia.2 The Nigerian Story And then there is Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria, with roughly 170…
The first month of my last year of rheumatology fellowship began in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, at Black Lion Hospital, a tertiary university medical center, where I [Dr. Mary Abraham] started an Emory-sponsored global health rotation. Although a very different beginning to my fellowship year, my experiences at Black Lion reminded me of my passion to…
Ethiopia has a rich, variable and distinguished history and landscape. Located in the Horn of Africa, it shares borders with Eritrea, Djibouti, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan and South Sudan. Ethiopia has claim to the oldest humanoid fossils, named “Lucy,” which were discovered in 1974 and are estimated to be 3.2 million years of age.1 The country’s…