Ethiopia Making Headway Against HIV/AIDS After Late Start

Washington -- Despite getting a late start in understanding the seriousness of the disease that is threatening to rob Africa of its future, the Ethiopian government is making great headway against HIV/AIDS. Former U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia David Shinn told those attending the January 14 launch of Forum International for Ethiopians Living in the Diaspora in Addis Ababa that Ethiopian authorities only began to take HIV/AIDS seriously in 1998, but “by late 1999 there was widespread realization within and outside the Ethiopian government that much more must be done to slow down the pandemic."

Shinn, a 37-year career diplomat who is now an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, was speaking on the topic “Assessing and Averting HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.” He praised several Ethiopian groups for “designing an organization that will create a productive relationship between Ethiopia and its large and talented Diaspora” to address challenges to Ethiopia’s development such as poverty, famine, investment opportunities and technology transfer.

For many, AIDS is the primary challenge to development in Africa. U.N. estimates of the almost 19 million people who have succumbed to the disease worldwide since the early 1980's, place 80 percent of those deaths on the African continent. The latest figures indicate that 2.3 million Africans died of AIDS in 2003, with 3.2 million new infections reported that year.

In 2001, the United Nations estimated 2.2 million people were living with AIDS in Ethiopia, placing a serious strain on already overburdened health resources. In 2003, President Bush announced his Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a $15 billion effort to prevent, treat and care for 2 million victims in 15 targeted nations, including Ethiopia, which received $41 million in 2004.

Shinn told his Addis audience that when he came to Ethiopia in 1996 to assume his position as U.S. ambassador, he found few AIDS programs high on the agenda of the Ethiopian government, with the exception of the Ethiopian Defense Force, which had “independently recognized the threat and had begun to take serious measures to counter the problem.”

But soon, with the help of the U.S. Agency for International Development, President Negasso Gidada “took the lead on behalf of the government, a role continued by President Girma Woldegiorgis,” in calling attention to the AIDS peril, he said. In that same time frame, he said, “Abuna Paulos made HIV/AIDS an important part of the agenda of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The Supreme Islamic Council and Protestant churches like Kale Hiwot, Mekane Yesus and the Mennonites also added their strong support.”

In mid-1998, the joint U.N. program on HIV/AIDS, known as UNAIDS, and the World Health Organization announced that the HIV/AIDS adult prevalence rate for Ethiopia was 9.31 percent. By 2002 the percentage was down to 6.4 percent, or about 2 million adults, reflecting the “impressive progress” of Ethiopia in confronting HIV/AIDS since its slow beginning, Shinn said.

Part of that success story is one of public-nongovernmental organization-religious cooperation, Shinn pointed out, as “the government, churches, mosques, civil society, World Bank, Global Fund, international organizations, donor governments, domestic and international NGOs (nongovernmental organizations), private companies like Pfizer and foundations like Packard … all played a role in raising the issue to a higher priority.”

This collective effort in Ethiopia to combat HIV/AIDS over the last 10 years deserves great credit for “spreading the word about the presence of the disease and the ways it can be avoided,” Shinn added.

“The stigma of HIV/AIDS remains a serious obstacle but there has been progress here too,” said Shinn. “Organizations like Dawn of Hope, Mekdim and Save Your Generation deserve much of the credit for this. The screening of films like Hidden Tears and the establishment throughout Ethiopia of thousands of anti-AIDS clubs in schools and communities have also made a major contribution.”

Shinn said another important element of the anti-HIV/AIDS program in Ethiopia developed very late in the crisis: anti-retroviral (ARV) treatment. At the beginning of 2004, only about 2,000 Ethiopians were receiving ARV medication, but the number increased to some 5,000 Ethiopians by mid-year.

In late 2004, the U.S. government announced a $43 million program to provide ARV drugs while the government of Ethiopia plans to increase the ARV drug program over the next five years. However, he added, "this will require an expansion of the health care system and the ability of regional hospitals to deliver the drugs safely and appropriately to patients."

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)