Health care providers need to hear from ethnic communities about their experience in trying to access health care. Offering culturally appropriate care requires being open to the perceptions, realities and expectations of a community that may be different from one's own. These profiles were developed by and in consultation with members of the profiled community.
History Located in the horn of Africa, Ethiopia is the tenth largest country in Africa.
Ethiopia traces its history as a country back 3,000 years and is the only African country that has never been colonized. In the mid-1970s, the government of Haile Selassie was overthrown and a repressive regime was established. Recent years have seen internal wars for liberation and ethnic conflicts. Many families left the country as refugees. The population includes many ethnic groups with nearly 80 languages and approximately 200 dialects.