The Hirsch Institute for Tropical Medicine (HITM) was founded in 2013 on the campus of the College of Health Sciences in Asella, Ethiopia. As a branch of the Department of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Infectious Diseases of University Hospital Düsseldorf, Germany, it serves as a research and training centre for both, Ethiopian and German physicians and researchers in the fields of infectious diseases and tropical medicine. Close cooperation with its partners, the Arsi University and the neighbouring Asella Teaching and Referral Hospital (ATRH) plays a central role. ARTH is the teaching hospital of the College of Health Sciences at Arsi University and the reference hospital for the Arsi region with a population of 4 million. The aim of the joint activities is to provide a platform for high-quality research and bidirectional knowledge transfer, to further expand the long-lasting partnership, and to integrate it into international networks.