Achotenu Scholarships in Health

Two problems, one solution

Hadassah-Achotenu’s Scholarships in Health deliver a pathway for young Ethiopian-Israelis to gain a university education leading to a guaranteed career in healthcare. At the same time, the Hadassah-Achotenu Ethiopian-Israeli University Scholarships in Health assist in resolving Israel's chronic nursing and occupational therapist shortages.

A Journey of Hope 

In 2016, a novel program was initiated by La’Ofek in Israel that created an alternative pathway for the Ethiopian-Israeli community to join the nursing and occupational therapy professions. Ethiopian-Israelis struggle to gain a place at university, typically scoring much lower in Psychometric Entrance Tests.

To support this program, Hadassah Australia developed the Hadassah-Achotenu Ethiopian-Israeli University Scholarship in Health Program to help Ethiopian-Israelis earn degrees at the Henrietta Szold Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Nursing and the school of Occupational Therapy. 

Hadassah-Achotenu Scholarship graduate, Inbal, shares her journey in our short video.

Supporting Israel 

Giving Ethiopian-Israelis access to their profession of choice is helping to ease Israel’s chronic nursing and OT shortages.

The ongoing COVID-19 crisis emphasised the urgent need to strengthen the health sector in Israel - a country fighting many battles on many fronts. Despite the heroic effort of Israel’s health workers, the pandemic has highlighted the country’s critical nursing and OT shortages. There is one group desperate to join their ranks. But until recently, the system worked against them. That group are Ethiopian-Israelis.

The Hadassah-Achotenu Ethiopian-Israeli University Scholarship in Health Program benefits all Israelis by answering the call of the OECD, which declared that Israel must find an additional 1,000 graduate nurses per annum by the end of the decade to provide the community with effective healthcare.

Powerful Impact 

Each Hadassah-Achotenu Ethiopian-Israeli University Scholarship in Health has the potential to create sustainable change not just for one person or even one family, but for a whole community.

Research has shown that teenagers with positive adult role models are more likely to stay in school, do well and go on to university themselves. Most of our Achotenu scholars will be the first in their family to obtain a tertiary degree, but experience has shown us that they will not be the last. 

See the short highlights of our recent webinar: Closing the Gap to find out how we are powering change.

Meet Maya, a successful graduate now working at Hadassah Hospital.