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VCT Day Photo Gallery
National VCT
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VCT Day Photo Gallery
ADDIS ABABA - The President of Ethiopia has declared September 10 as National Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) Day in Ethiopia to demonstrate the country’s strong commitment to fighting the war against HIV and AIDS.
Agencies working in HIV/AIDS prevention, control, treatment, and care and
support were pleased with the move and said strong leadership is what is needed
to stop the spread of HIV and mitigate the impact it is having in Ethiopia.
“VCT is important as an entry point in HIV prevention and for early access
to treatment, care and support and this campaign is geared towards not only
empowering our community to access VCT services but also targeting service providers
to strive towards the provision of quality Voluntary Counseling and Testing
Services,” said Ato Negatu Mereke, Head of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control
Office (HAPCO).
The observance of the first National VCT Day featured Ethiopian President Girma Wolde-Giorgis unveiling a billboard that depicts three top Ethiopian world class athletes. The athletes - Tirunesh Dibaba, Meseret Defar, and Sileshi Sihen - were appointed VCT Ambassadors by President Wolde-Giorgis. Also present at the unveiling ceremony were State Minister of Health, Dr. Tedros Adhanom; HAPCO Head Ato Negatu Mereke; U.S. Acting Deputy Chief of Mission, Dr. Brian Moran; Country Director of U.S. Department of Health and Human Service’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (HHS/CDC-Ethiopia), Dr. Tadesse Wuhib, Heads of Health Bureau and HAPCO of the capital and other dignitaries and representatives of youth, women, religious and other organizations.
The occasion was marked with great enthusiasm by all participants, who wore VCT promotional T-shirts. Various VCT brochures, posters, flyers, and free VCT service coupons were produced and distributed by the AIDS Resource Center (ARC). www.etharc.org
The billboard depicting the athletes is accompanied by the messages “I Benefited from the HIV Test I Took” and the slogan “New Year, New Life.” September 10 falls on the eve of the Ethiopian New Year. The billboard is designed to encourage Ethiopians to join the athletes in getting tested for HIV to know their HIV status and take control of their health as well as their families’.
According to the Ministry of Health 2004 Report http://www.etharc.org/AIDSinEth/index.htm there are currently 1.6 million Ethiopians living with HIV and AIDS, most of whom are unaware of their status, and close to 1.2 million Ethiopians have been lost to AIDS since the first two AIDS cases were reported in the country in 1986. Until recently, HIV mostly affected the major cities and towns in Ethiopia; a trend currently changing as more and more rural dwellers are being affected by the epidemic. This trend is raising a stronger concern among public health officials and activists.
A roundtable discussion recently conducted by HAPCO and the AIDS Resource Center involved various government and non-government officials in prevention and control work provided direction for next year’s focus of the VCT campaign.
In connection with the VCT Day, radio programs produced by Addis Ababa Health Bureau were transmitted on FM Addis 97.1 promoting VCT among the community. A three-hour radio program produced by the AIDS Resource Center will be transmitted by Ethiopian Radio in coming weeks. Two music videos were also produced by ARC based on two of the VCT songs recently released by HHS/CDC-Ethiopia. ARC also produced a poem video clip in collaboration with the well-known Ethiopian young poet Tagel Seifu. These video clips and other video messages will be released by Ethiopian Television and transmitted throughout the year following VCT Day.
As part of the campaign to bring quality VCT services to the community, H. E. Ato Arkebe Oqubay, the Mayor of Addis Ababa, inaugurated the first mobile VCT center in the country supported by HHS/CDC in a ceremony on September 9. Located in the capital, the mobile center will be operated by the Organization for Social Services for AIDS (OSSA) and receives technical and financial assistance from the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (the Emergency Plan) -- the largest commitment ever by a nation toward an international health initiative for a single disease --a five-year, $15 billion, multifaceted approach to combating the disease in more than 100 countries around the world. This technical and financial assistance will be administered through HHS/CDC-Ethiopia and Addis Ababa HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office to provide counseling and testing services to the community and serve as a model for future mobile VCT centers. After the ceremony, Hayat Mohamed, Former Miss World Ethiopia, took the lead publicly receiving counseling and testing. Mayor Arkebe Oqubay publicly tested last year, an action that greatly contributed to the Addis Ababa City VCT Campaign. Many also joined the leaders to receive counseling and have been tested for HIV.
Events around the VCT Day theme were organized by the AIDS Resource Center Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/ Center for Communication Programs (CCP/ARC); the National HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (HAPCO) and HHS/CDC-Ethiopia in close collaboration with Addis Ababa Health Bureau, Addis Ababa HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (AAHAPCO), Ethiopian Ministry of Health, with funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief through HHS/CDC-Ethiopia.
CONTACT:
Selamawit Mamo (Ms.)
Media Liaison Officer
AIDS Resource Center
E-mail: selamm@etharc.org or arce@ethionet.et
Website: www.etharc.org
Tel: 251-1-50 35 84/87
P. O. Box 26171 Code1000
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia