Tene Briut was founded in 1999 to provide medical treatment with culturally competent communication to Ethiopian immigrants to Israel. Today Tene Briut is a dedicated NGO that delivers healthcare services throughout Israel, staffed by a team of Ethiopian-Israeli healthcare professionals, Amharic-speaking medical interpreters, and health promotion specialists familiar with the Ethiopian immigrant community and backed by the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Immigration, the absorption services, municipalities, the HMOs, and hospitals. Organizations within Israel and beyond now look to Tene Briut's programs for inspiration in their efforts to develop meaningful prevention strategies for improving the health of immigrants and minority communities.
At the end of 2018, the population of Ethiopian origin in Israel was 151,800 residents. Approximately 86,900 were born in Ethiopia, and 64,900 were Israeli-born with fathers born in Ethiopia. For many, immigration led to the disintegration of traditional family and social structures with traumatic results for the community. In addition, aliyah to Israel and the associated changes from an active agrarian lifestyle to a sedentary western lifestyle with increased consumption of processed and sugar-rich foods resulted in the emergence of chronic diseases, in particular diabetes, at an alarming rate.