Ethiopia has successfully achieved six of the eight MDGs. Even for the other two lagging MDGs (MDG 3 on ensuring gender equality and empowering women, and MDG 5 on improving maternal health), significant progress has been observed. Ethiopia is now strategically planning for the Sustainable Development Goals, laying the foundation for achieving middle income status, strengthening export performance through improved competitiveness and overcoming constraints in the manufacturing sector.

Trends in access to basic health services and health gains have also shown dramatic improvements over the last 10 years. Life expectancy, a key component of the HDI, has increased for both men and women (National HDR Report 2015).

About 80% of diseases are attributable to preventable conditions that are related to personal and environmental hygiene, infectious diseases and malnutrition¹. It is reported that up to 60% of the current disease burden in Ethiopia is attributable to poor sanitation where 15% of total deaths are from diarrhoea, mainly among the large population of children under five. Based on revised data from the National Water Sanitation and Health Inventory, national potable water supply coverage increased from 58per cent to 68.4 per cent between 2009/10 and2012/13, reflecting an increase in both rural and urban coverage (NHDR 2015).

Health is one of the major thematic areas in which 65% of MCMDO’s experience and resources mobilized. MCMDO is mainly engaged in;

• Reproductive, Maternal, Neonatal  and child health
• Malaria prevention
• Strengthening and establishing Youth Friendly Services (YFSs)
• Strengthening referral services support emergency transportation
• Improve access to health professionals to get different trainings to improve their professional capacities  
• HIV/AIDS prevention, care & support
• System strengthening and supporting  the health services provision and facilities
• Social mobilization, and ensuring  behavioral change, improving the health seeking  behavior of the community,
• Prevention of harmful traditional practices
• Care and support for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) and PLHIV
• Increasing access of communities to health services by availing basic inputs including ambulance service, medicines, medical equipment and construction of health facilities
• Social and Behavioral Change Communication

Under this thematic component, 32 projects had been successfully implemented. In all its health projects MCMDO works in the most marginalized and hard to reach communities in which the health coverage is minimum and the health seeking behavior is low. On the other hand MCMDO targets the most at risk population which are prevalent to different communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS, Malaria, water borne diseases and issues related to sanitation and hygiene.