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Ethiopia

Ethiopia, with a population of 79 million, has an estimated HIV seroprevalence rate of 3.5 percent. Approximately 1.3 million Ethiopians, including 120,000 children under age 14, are living with HIV/AIDS, and the disease has orphaned an estimated 754,000 children. In 2005, the Government of Ethiopia embarked on an ambitious program to provide free care and treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS. Later that year, ICAP began supporting Ethiopia’s national rollout of HIV/AIDS care and treatment services. ICAP, working closely with the Federal Ministry of Health, supports HIV/AIDS prevention, care, and treatment programs at more than 35 hospitals in four regions of Ethiopia (Oromiya, Somali, Dire Dawa, and Harari). In addition to site-level support, ICAP provides technical assistance to the Federal Ministry of Health on pediatrics, family-focused HIV/AIDS care, TB/HIV, and other key programmatic areas. ICAP-supported activities include:

• Strengthening sites to deliver comprehensive HIV/AIDS care and treatment services;
• Supporting pediatric HIV/AIDS care and treatment, including training for multidisciplinary care teams, development of guidelines, and initiation of infant diagnosis and pediatric antiretroviral therapy programs;
• Developing training and provider support materials related to care and treatment;
• Linking prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV services with HIV care and treatment programs;
• Integrating tuberculosis/HIV care and treatment;
• Supporting interventions to link malaria and HIV prevention and treatment;
• Strengthening HIV counseling and testing services and linkages to care and treatment;
• Providing adherence support and peer educator programs;
• Enhancing involvement of people living with HIV/AIDS in program activities;
• Facilitating laboratory training and capacity building at the national, regional, and site levels;
• Strengthening of patient-record systems and use of program data for decision-making.

ICAP also partners with Jimma and Alemaya Universities to enhance HIV/AIDS training expertise and capacity, and works with regional health bureaus and regional laboratories in ICAP-supported regions to provide financial support, technical assistance, and other resources to improve HIV/AIDS management and program implementation capacity.

For more about the Ethiopia program, visit http://www.columbia-icap.org/ethiopia/.