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Global Scholars Projects: Diriba Fufa Hordofa, MD, MSc
Other Global Scholars :
Location
Jimma Town, Ethiopia
Implementation Period
2023-2025 (2023 Wave)
Scholars Project
Implementation Study of Integrating Adapted Resource and Implementation Application (ARIA) and Hospital Based Cancer Registries at Two Cancer Treatment Units in Ethiopia
Current Role
Pediatric Hematologist-Oncologist, Director of Pediatric Oncology Unit, Jimma University Medical Center, Associate Professor, Jimma University School of Medicine, Jimma, Ethiopia
About the Global Scholars Project
In Ethiopia, pediatric oncology services are delivered in a small number of tertiary hospitals, often without integrated hospital-based cancer registries (HBCRs) or digital clinical decision-support tools. This limits the capacity of clinicians and health system leaders to track patient trajectories, assess performance and plan improvements in childhood cancer care. Addressing these systemic weaknesses is essential for strengthening child health services and advancing equitable cancer outcomes.
This project aimed to strengthen childhood cancer care through an implementation study of the integrated implementation of the Adapted Resource and Implementation Application (ARIA) and HBCRs in pediatric oncology units in Ethiopia.
Implementation of the two digital tools improved key care processes and data quality. ARIA enhanced treatment standardization and safety by automating chemotherapy dose calculations, thereby reducing manual errors. The HBCR improved data accuracy and completeness, enabling better patient tracking and identification of patterns such as treatment abandonment and completion rate.
Publications
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Mapping integrated implementation of adapted resource and implementation application — ARIA — and REDCap version hospital-based pediatric cancer registry — HBCR — in Ethiopia: An implementation study
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Mapping a multi-center implementation of integrated adapted resource and implementation application — ARIA — and hospital-based pediatric cancer registry — HBCR — in Ethiopia
Project Assets
About the Scholar
Diriba Fufa Hordofa is deeply passionate about improving the lives of children in need. His focus on pediatric oncology has shaped his life’s mission to address critical public health gaps in his home country of Ethiopia, particularly in childhood cancer care.
Hordofa is currently director of the pediatric oncology unit at Jimma University Medical Center. This unit serves a catchment population of more than 20 million people. His primary role is providing clinical services for children affected by cancer and hematologic disorders and teaching and mentoring undergraduate medical students, pediatrics residents and other department master’s and PhD students. He is also serving on the Sub-Saharan Africa Regional Advisory Committee for St. Jude Global and leading a national pediatric oncology satellite clinic development in about eight centers in Ethiopia.
Hordofa earned his medical degree in 2009, and a diploma in pediatrics and child health in 2014, both from Jimma University in Jimma, Ethiopia.
“You cannot separate one from the other; you cannot just treat the patient and avoid the data.”