Talking Points

Fact Sheet

Updated February 2003

Ethiopia is one of the sub-Saharan countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS.

An estimated 2.2 million of Ethiopia’s 67 million people are infected with HIV/AIDS (MOH 2002).
The adult HIV prevalence rate in Ethiopia is 6.6%, which means that one out of every 15 adults is infected. In Addis Ababa, the rate is much higher: an estimated one out of every 6 adults is infected (MOH 2002).
Ethiopia has the third largest HIV-positive population in the world.
In 2001, more than 160,000 Ethiopians died due to AIDS (UNAIDS 2002).
More than 1.2 million children in Ethiopia have lost their mother or both parents to AIDS (MOH 2002).
AIDS has already reduced overall life expectancy by 11 years, increased infant mortality and death rates, and lowered population size and growth rates in Ethiopia.

There is only one trained medical doctor for every 36,000 persons living in Ethiopia, and only about 52% of Ethiopians have access to health care services (MOH 2001).
The budget for health averages about 7% of the total national government budget.
AIDS patients occupy approximately half of all hospital beds in Ethiopia. Increasing numbers of AIDS patients strain the capacity of overburdened health professionals to treat them.
The high cost of care for AIDS patients forces health providers to divert limited resources from other programs, such as primary health care and essential drug programs.

Ethiopia’s economic development depends on youth learning skills in the classroom to adequately support themselves and sustain Ethiopia’s economy as adults.
In sub-Saharan countries where the HIV/AIDS epidemic is more advanced, a high proportion of teachers and sectoral managers have HIV, threatening the educational infrastructure and eroding teachers’ credibility as role models for HIV prevention. The educational crisis provoked by HIV/AIDS in these countries serves as early warning for the educational sector in Ethiopia.
AIDS is causing a decline in school enrollment rates for three main reasons:
·As an unschooled group of orphans matures into adulthood, a growing class of adults will lack the skills to be highly economically productive, burdening government and community support services, and consequently, hindering development.

Agricultural activities comprise over 50% of GDP, 90% of exports, and 85% of employment in Ethiopia. Coffee generates 60% of export earnings.
In Ethiopia’s many drought-prone areas, farming depends on a labor-intensive one-time planting and harvest of one or two crops per year. Loss of workers to HIV/AIDS substantially reduces harvests, and consequently, makes it difficult for families to feed themselves.
A shrinking labor force also stimulates farmers to switch to less labor-intensive crops, decreasing the production of exportable cash crops in favor of subsistence farming of smaller, less nutritive crops.
Rural communities, highly or exclusively dependent on agriculture, are home to the vast majority of Ethiopia’s population, but tend to have low awareness of HIV because their poor transportation and communication infrastructure has prevented HIV prevention and control efforts from reaching them.

In Ethiopia, HIV/AIDS is already causing high rates of absenteeism due to illness and funeral attendance by the workforce. Employers must bear increasing burdens from sick-leave payments and lost productivity.
Deaths of workers from AIDS create gaps in Ethiopia's limited skills base of trained personnel. This problem increases hiring costs and reducing productivity, and discourages foreign investment.
Poor staff morale and lower productivity often result from fear and uncertainty about HIV/AIDS. Low morale and low productivity are furthered by stigma surrounding infected individuals, as well as grieving among bereaved workers.
Workplace HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs have yet to be widely implemented in Ethiopia. Such programs include packages of services including testing and counseling, condom promotion and distribution, and comprehensive policies concerning confidentiality, benefits, skills succession, and anti-discrimination measures. In other sub-Saharan African countries, investment in workplace HIV prevention programs has proven a cost-effective alternative to avert infections, reducing the number of sick workers later that the company may have to care for.

80% of Ethiopians infected with HIV are between the ages of 20 and 49. Because HIV tends to strike individuals during their most economically productive years, families frequently lose their primary breadwinner.
High death rates in the economically productive age groups will increase the dependency ratio, meaning that a small number of younger adults must provide for children and elderly persons who have lost their source of financial support.
The cost of caring for HIV/AIDS patients during long periods of illness diverts essential household resources from other basic necessities such as food, fuel, rent, and basic health care.
The high death toll, and consequent financial demands for funeral and mourning rites, resulting from HIV/AIDS is leading community organizations like Edirs into bankruptcy.