25th September, 2017
Ethiopia plans to conduct a study on HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities that have been carried out during the past 15 years, Ethiopian Public Health Institute said on Monday.
According to the Institute Director-General, Ebba Abate, the study will be conducted on over 25,000 adults and children in 395 identified areas across the east African country.
Report says the assessment is the first of its kind to be conducted on HIV/AIDS in the country.
Abate told newsmen that the assessment would find out details of HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities implemented in the country in the past 15 years.
“The assessment mainly aimed to complement the global 90-90-90 HIV treatment goals, which aspires 90 per cent of people living with HIV diagnosed.
“Also, 90 per cent of diagnosed people on antiretroviral treatment (ART) and 90 per cent of people in treatment with fully suppressed viral load by 2020,’’ he indicated.
According to Abate, the study will help to identify priority areas of intervention for the realisation of the global target as it will enable Ethiopia to figure out the status of HIV/AIDS among its citizens.
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“Ethiopia is among the 15 countries in Africa selected for the study, which will be conducted jointly by the Ethiopian Public Health Institute, the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“Others are the International Centre for AIDS Care and Treatment and Programmes at Columbia University (ICAP).”
The Ethiopian Anti-HIV/AIDS Associations Coalition recently expressed its concern that HIV/AIDS intervention and response was presently sluggish in Ethiopia.
According to Edlam Gebreselassie, the coalition board head, over 54 HIV/AIDS associations are closed in the past few years; while some 348 are facing serious challenges.
Meanwhile, Ethiopian Ministry of Health said there were 720,000 people living with HIV in Ethiopia, of whom 420,000 were receiving antiretroviral treatment.