World AIDS Day—Our Work In Ethiopia

As we commemorate World AIDS Day—the international day of action on HIV and AIDS—on December 1, more and more Ethiopian women are learning their HIV status through the Hareg Project for prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT).

More than 95,000 children under the age of 15 are living with HIV in Ethiopia. As of June 2004, the country had only 1% coverage for PMTCT services despite estimated HIV prevalence rates of 10.5% in urban areas and 1.9% in rural areas. At that time, only 6,000 pregnant women were receiving PMTCT services. Since October 2004, the Hareg Project has supported more than 40,000 mothers in 90 public health centers. The project plans to expand services to 267 health centers in all ten regions of the country.

When pregnant women know they're HIV-positive they can receive important medicine for themselves and their children and learn how to live healthy lives. However, encouraging pregnant women to get tested is a challenge in Ethiopia since only 28% of women come for prenatal care and only 6% deliver in health facilities.

Led by IntraHealth, Hareg is a collaborative effort with Ethiopia's Ministry of Health, the National HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office, district health offices and community-based teams. The project connects HIV-positive women and their babies to a continuum of health-improvement services. Initiatives such as Mothers-to-Mothers (a community maternal health program to increase awareness of HIV prevention, care and treatment) and strong linkages with family planning, nutrition and ongoing ART services contribute to reducing the number of pediatric HIV infections.

To succeed, PMTCT programs must be well integrated into prenatal care and maternal and child health services. The Hareg Project has trained almost 2,000 health care providers and managers in PMTCT at their work sites. This "on-the-job" approach minimizes interruptions to patient care and helps staff find the best way to introduce PMTCT as a new service at their facility. Furthermore, Hareg has motivated an army of community volunteers to conduct educational activities and refer women and their partners for counseling and testing, prenatal and postnatal care and infant follow-up.

This three year, $7.6 million project is funded by USAID through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.