PRESS BRIEFING ON HIV/AIDS IN ETHIOPIA

PRESS BRIEFING ON HIV/AIDS IN ETHIOPIA

Efforts to combat the HIV/AIDS crisis in Ethiopia are critically in need of resources to fund treatment programmes and support for a growing orphan population, Stephen Lewis, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, said at a Headquarters press briefing this afternoon.

Describing his recent visit to Addis Ababa, he told correspondents Ethiopia -- the second most populous country in Africa, with nearly 70 million people -- currently faces an HIV/AIDS prevalence rate of over 6 per cent, rising to more than 13 per cent in urban centres.  He noted that an estimated 2 to 3 million people were now infected, so many it raised an alarm for the country.

He said the Government of Ethiopia is presently awaiting a decision from  the Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, from which it has requested $400 million over five years to initiate an extensive treatment programme.  “The possibilities of widespread treatment in Ethiopia hang on the availability of resources”, he noted, adding that it was worrisome that the Global Fund had thus far approved only about one third of submitted proposals.

He said a rejection of Ethiopia’s proposal to the Global Fund would place Ethiopia’s treatment programme largely in the hands of the “PEPFAR” initiative proposed by United States President George Bush, which would likely utilize treatment funds to purchase expensive brand-name drugs, rather than the lower-cost, generic brands the Ethiopian Government would presumably attempt to use.

What was heartening, however, was the embrace of HIV testing and counselling now evident in the country, with people coming forward in large numbers to get tested, and testing before marriage now commonplace throughout Ethiopia.

Another positive development he had witnessed during his visit was the emergence of “community conversations”, initiated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in conjunction with a non-governmental organization in Nigeria.

“It is astonishing to view”, he said, noting that he had observed community gatherings in Ethiopian villages where such previously taboo subjects as female genital mutilation, bride sharing, polygamy, child marriage, condoms, and women’s rights were being openly discussed.

Turning to the growing orphan crisis resulting from HIV/AIDS, he said the situation was “entirely lamentable” and that there were already an estimated 1 million children orphaned by AIDS in Ethiopia.

“They are on the verge of a tremendous crisis”, he said.  Especially troubling, he stressed, was the children’s lack of access to education due to unaffordable school fees, underscoring the universal need for free primary education.

“I’m at my wits’ end on this issue”, he said.  “I’ve asked publicly countless times over why it isn’t possible to launch a continent-wide campaign to abolish fees.  I fail to see why we should all stand by while children are denied their childhood and their prospects for the future.”

He said he would use his envoy role to find non-governmental organizations with whom to collaborate on a campaign that would rely on African leadership to address the inadequate response to the lack of access to education among orphaned children.

“A school would put orphan children in regular contact with adults again, restore a sense of self-worth, provide a place of security, perhaps offer a meal at lunch, and ignite the wonders of friendship”, he said.

Responding to a question regarding the response of the United Nations to the growing number of orphans in sub-Saharan Africa resulting from the AIDS crisis, Mr. Lewis said the United Nations was becoming increasingly focused on responding to the orphan dimension.

“It has been the most difficult dimension to respond to, because no one has ever encountered this phenomenon before.  The world has never faced the prospect of tens of millions of orphaned kids and societies so impoverished that it’s very difficult to absorb them”, he said.

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