Ethiopia made remarkable progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in general, and the maternal and child health-related goals of MDGs 4 and 5 in particular. Under-5 mortality has declined by 67 per cent since 1990, and the country has already met the MDG4 target before its deadline.These achievements were largely attributable to the implementation and scale-up of high-impact child interventions that focus on promotive, preventive and curative primary health-care services.

Improvements in health outcomes have been positively influenced by the government’s policy support for the Health Extension Programme, including the mobilization of the Women Development’s Army. The health cadres,
including Health Extension Workers (HEWs), have contributed to health promotion, disease prevention and community-based disease case management, which, in turn, has led to a reduction in morbidity and mortality.