Amref Ethiopia’s Dr Addis Inspires Global Health Audience at Harvard with Vision for Universal Health Coverage

Dr Addis, Senior Director for Health System Strengthening at Amref Health Africa in Ethiopia, was invited to deliver a series of guest lectures at the prestigious Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His presentations, focused on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Primary Health Care (PHC) in low-income settings, were delivered to an audience of master’s, PhD, and post-doctoral students, as well as professors and global health researchers.

Drawing from Ethiopia’s own health systems journey, Dr Addis challenged conventional top-down models of healthcare delivery. Instead, he proposed a bottom-up approach—starting with families, communities, and frontline health workers—as a more sustainable pathway to achieving UHC in resource-constrained environments.

“Health systems are not just built in ministries or conference rooms,” he remarked, “they are built in villages, households, and communities.”

Dr Addis underscored the importance of combining community-based service delivery innovations with financial protection mechanisms—such as health insurance and equity-focused policies—to shield people from catastrophic health expenditures. He also emphasized the need for costed roadmaps and locally led implementation strategies to ensure no one is left behind.

He stated, “Achieving UHC by 2030 will require more than just financing—it demands equity-focused policies, deep community trust, and relentless investment in people. Even in low-income settings, progress is possible when solutions are homegrown, inclusive, and resilient.”

The lectures sparked strong engagement and curiosity from the audience, prompting vibrant discussions and a flurry of thoughtful questions from students and faculty alike.

Dr Addis’s insights reinforced Amref’s belief that achieving health for all is not only a moral imperative—but also a realistic and achievable goal, when driven by community leadership, local innovation, and smart partnerships.

In addition to his lectures, Dr Addis met with Professor Marcia Castro, Chair of the Department of Global Health and Population (GHP) at the Harvard School of Public Health. They discussed opportunities for deeper collaboration, including joint research initiatives, data and insights generation, co-authored publications, faculty exchanges, and internship programs. These discussions mark an exciting step toward strengthening academic and programmatic partnerships between Amref and Harvard.

Dr Addis’s visit reinforced Amref’s commitment to advancing global health knowledge and practice through community-driven innovation, cross-sectoral collaboration, and bold leadership.

Dr Addis also met with Dr Lia Tadesse, former Minister of Health of Ethiopia and current Executive Director of the Harvard Ministerial Leadership Program. They discussed potential avenues for collaboration to support the Ethiopian health sector. Additionally, he met with H.E. Dr Mohammed Pate, the current Minister of Health of Nigeria, and exchanged views on strengthening the collaboration between Amref and Nigeria in advancing progress toward SDG-3 targets.