Jimma University (JU) – Ethiopia
Since 2002, Jimma University (JU), Ethiopa has been collaborating with the LMU Munich. In 2009, with the first exceed funding phase, JU was one of the inaugural partner universities of the newly established CIHLMU . Throughout the OH-TARGET funding phase, JU remained a vital partner of CIHLMU . JU boasts a unique health and demographic surveillance system, the Gilgel Gibe Field Research Center (GGFRC), which supports JU as an excellent institution for research, training, and capacity development.
JU provides several domains of interest, most prominently in the areas of psychiatry, higher education didactics, and infectious diseases. Combined, these provide excellent opportunities for One Health activities.
In the area of psychiatry, JU researchers have studied the effect of using khat (a plant containing amphetamine-like alkaloids) as an environmental risk factor for symptoms of psychosis and other mental disorders in young men. Since 2017, the CIHLMU and JU have been conducting a research project, funded by the BMBF and the BMZ, aimed at understanding antimicrobial resistance. The project studies knowledge, attitudes, and practices in JUSH health care workers and has improved microbiology and resistance diagnostic capacity, established an antibiotic stewardship committee, and revised guidelines. In 2020, an ongoing wastewater project was initiated in Addis Ababa to investigate wastewater samples for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. The first joint publication in the field of mental health and infectious diseases, “Magnitude and predictors of khat use among patients with tuberculosis in Southwest Ethiopia: A longitudinal study” was published in PLoS One.
JU is a center of academic excellence that integrates training, research, and service development. In 2009, JU launched a Master of Science in Integrated Clinical and Community Mental Health (MSc ICCMH) in collaboration with the CIHLMU . So far, 80 students have graduated from the program. The partnership also led to the establishment of a bacteriology unit at Jimma University Specialized Teaching Hospital (JUTH), in 2013.
In 2010, the PhD Program Medical Research–International Health was established for suitable graduates, numerous also from JU. Curricular courses are held in Munich and at partner sites worldwide and research projects are conducted in LMICs. The program covers mental health, infectious diseases, and academic education as a scientific field, and hence provides opportunities for these target topics of JU. In 2023, an alumni meeting conceived the new Advanced Module Pandemic Preparedness, with contributors from Ghana, Kenya, Nepal, Bolivia, and located at JU, Ethiopia. The network is envisaging to pilot the course soon.
