Factors involved in international scientific collaborations in Ethiopia, using a research project on schistosomiasis as an example

Ethiopia is host to a large number of international collaborative research projects in the areas of science, medicine and health. This paper attempts to (1) Give a brief introduction to Ethiopia and its health care system, including its primary and referral health care institutions and its medical education; (2) Briefly discuss four examples of international collaborations in Ethiopia, on very different scales: National HIV/AIDS Programme, Gondar Chronic Illness Project, Dabat and Butajira Health Surveillance Projects, a local schistosomiasis project and related laboratory studies; (3) Summarize some of the lessons learned from these projects and to suggest some common characteristics of successful international projects.