Background: Beginning in 2012, the Government of Ethiopia implemented the Human Resource Development (HRD) program to enhance capacity building in the Ethiopian healthcare system. Through this program, physiotherapy residency program at Addis Ababa University (AAU) was started. The aim of this presentation is to describe Physiotherapy residency program in Ethiopia. Methods: We performed a descriptive analysis of the physiotherapy residency program in Ethiopia after initiation of the first cohort group of Doctor of Physiotherapy residents. Results: Through this cohort program, faculty from USA institutions and private companies supplement the existing Ethiopian Physiotherapy educational infrastructure to increase the teaching capacity, manpower and skilled professionals. In the process of conception of Physiotherapy trainees more than half of them were joined from Addis Ababa region with sponsorship letters. Service-based Physiotherapy residence has been conducted for two years as Advanced Physiotherapy Courses’. Then a year later class-based training program was started through lectures, E-learnings and data-based educational systems. Lectures remain a foremost part of the educational program, but more focus is placed on clinical practice and peer-education. Shortage of academic staffs, mentor instructors and advanced teaching equipment’s overwhelm learning-teaching process posing a challenge towards providing residents with a broad spectrum of clinical experiences, especially advanced Physiotherapy services. Conclusion: Through this program, the Doctor of Physiotherapy residency program must be expanded throughout different Universities of Ethiopia. Mean a while, the quantity and quality of physiotherapy residency program is expected to offer scholarship chances to physiotherapists working in African continent.
