Ethiopia - Country Progress Report - unaids

Report on Progress towards Implementation of the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS
The Millennium AIDS Campaign has played a key role in the strengthening of the health sector’s response to HIV/
AIDS, including HIV counseling and testing (HCT), prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) and
antiretroviral treatment (ART). Social mobilization is also being stimulated by Community Conversations, which
establish interactive spaces within communities in order to generate a local response to AIDS that integrates individual
and collective concerns, values and beliefs, and also addresses individual and collective attitudes and behaviors
embedded in social systems and structures.
The universal access targets and the Millennium AIDS Campaign underscore the commitment of the Ethiopian
Government to move towards universal access. Underneath the universal access targets, the Plan of Action contains
objectives for each of its 16 Program Areas and specific annual targets for each key activity.
Several programmatic achievements in recent years deserve particular note:
• Site expansion for the delivery of HCT, PMTCT and ART services has dramatically increased over the last three
years. Between June 2004 and December 2007, HCT sites increased from 525 to 1,005; PMTCT sites from 72
to 428; and ART sites from 32 to 329.
• The number of people tested annually for HIV has dramatically increased from 367,006 in 2005 to nearly 2.3
million in 2007. During the last fiscal year (July 2006 to June 2007) counseling and testing services achieved
60.6% of the annual national target.
• The number of PLHIV ever started on ART has increased sharply from 8,276 in June 2005 to 24,236 in June
2006 to 97,299 in June 2007 and to 122,243 at the end of December 2007.
• Behavioral surveys suggest that Ethiopians’ awareness about HIV and AIDS is high and that behavioral change
is increasing. According to the 2005 DHS, 90% of women and 97% of men aged 15-49 have heard of AIDS.
Comparison of the 2000 and 2005 DHSs shows that condom use has increased from 30.3% to 51.9% among
males and from 13.4% to 23.6% among females.
• In 2007, about 100 institutions (government, NGOs, FBOs, and private sector) were surveyed for a stocktaking
of HIV/AIDS mainstreaming. Out of the surveyed institutions more than half (52.3%) reported to have
mainstreamed HIV/AIDS. Specifically, the result shows that more than four-fifths (83.3%) FBOs, two-thirds
(66.7%) NGOs, half (50%) of the public sector institutions, and one-fifth (20%) of private business institutions
have reported to have mainstreamed HIV/AIDS in their institutions.
• About 160,000 OVCs and 35,000 PLHIVs are accessing psychosocial, educational, and nutritional services, as
well as training and funding for income generation activities.
But despite these achievements, coverage of essential prevention, treatment and care services remains limited. Only
34.9% of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in need of treatment are receiving ARVs. Only 2.08% of women and men aged
15-49 received an HIV test in the last 12 months and know their results. And only 6.48% of HIV-positive pregnant
women received antiretroviral drugs to reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission.
Only 15.8% of women and 28.7% of men aged 15-49 years have comprehensive knowledge of HIV and AIDS. Among
young people aged 15–24 years, only one out of three (33.3%) young males and one out of five (20%) young females
have comprehensive knowledge. The 2005 Behavioral Surveillance Survey (BSS) revealed that only about one-third
of in-school youth, female sex workers, truck drivers, teachers and road construction workers have comprehensive
knowledge.
Additionally, despite an increase in condom use, high rates of unprotected sex persist. According to the 2005 DHS,
6% of young women and 37% of young men (age 15-24) engaged in higher-risk sexual activity in the past 12 months;
and one-quarter of these women and just under half of these men reported condom use in their last higher-risk
encounter.
Many programs are lagging behind their targets despite an extremely rapid pace of scale up. This situation emphasizes
the challenge of reaching universal access. As the numbers receiving services increase, the gaps in the system are
more pronounced: insufficient human resources, weak health infrastructure, transportation and general systems;
weak harmonization and alignment; low levels of mainstreaming; and issues of ownership and empowerment. A
substantial increase in financial resources is also required. The government has estimated the cost of reaching universal
access over the six-year period 2006/07-2011/12 at 34.2 billion Birr (USD 3.9 billion), while the total funding currently
available for these six years is estimated at 4.3 billion birr (USD 490 million)—a gap of more than USD 3.2 billion.
Overcoming these challenges requires the commitment and intensive participation of the government, civil society,
development partners and every citizen.
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