December 20, 2004

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Association Set to Raise Public Awareness on Democratic Election

Save the Children-Norway to Execute 33 Million Birr Development Projects

Woman Living with HIV Aspires to Become an MP

IntraHealth Sees Hope Yonder of FGC ban with Practicing Communities Involving Increasingly

PMTCT Program in Dilla Hospital Said Encouraging

US Allocates 20 Million USD to Support Half a Million Orphans

Business Leaders Urged to Enhance Efforts to Arrest AIDS

HIV/AIDS Battle Office Urges Devising Problem Solving Strategies

Association Set to Raise Public Awareness on Democratic Election

ADDIS ABABA (ENA), December 21, 2004—The Ethiopian Teachers Association (ETA) said that it has been taking various measures with a view to raising public awareness on democratic election and election procedures. Association President Anteye Kebede said last Saturday that the association has been preparing itself to make teachers active participants both as candidates and voters in the third national election. Anteye said that the association has begun providing training for trainers (ToT) on election with a view to making the upcoming national election free and fair. Anteye said that the association has plans to organize debate in all states on the education and training policy, good governance, and HIV/AIDS intervention for contesting political parties. Some 26 teacher trainers who are to train the school communities on democratic election are not attending courses, the president said, adding similar training would be given to 300 teachers in the future. Political parties should exert utmost efforts to introduce their political program ahead of the election to win public trust, he said. The association, with over 140,000 members, has been striving to raise public awareness on democratic election, especially in rural and remote areas of the country, he said.

Source: The Ethiopian Herald, Tuesday 21 December 2004, Page 8

Save the Children-Norway to Execute 33 Million Birr Development Projects

ADDIS ABABA (ENA), December 21, 2004—Save the Children-Norway has announced plan to launch various development activities in Ethiopia at a cost of over 33 Million Birr beginning next year. The organizations representative in Ethiopia Bjorn Hageen told ENA Saturday that among the main activities to be implemented in 2005 are the expansion of basic education and awareness raising on the rights of the child. The organization, in collaboration with the Amhara State Education Bureau, has been executing alternative basic education project in 114 Woredas and supported 209,000 students to attend the basic education service, he said. Education projects take 60 percent of the annual fund Save the Children-Norway earmarks, he said. He said health and social services as well as HIV/AIDS intervention activities are contained in the plan of the organization. Save the Children-Norway has been actively involved in awareness raising activities pertinent to the rights of the child and enhancing the educational capacity of children, Organization Program Directress Senait G/Egziabher said. The organization is working in consultations with the Federal Supreme Court and the police is raising the awareness of the public on the rights of the child, she said. She said the organization is empowering children to come forward and present their cases before courts without fear in the event of abuses committed against them. The organization has set to cater for 500,000 children with alternative basic education services until the year 2007, she indicated. The organization is working in collaboration with schools in North Gondar Zone, Amhara State, to put an end to harmful traditional practices, she added. The organization has provided children in Addis Ababa access to library service, she said, adding it established four kindergartens in four sub-city administrations, she said.

Source: The Ethiopian Herald, Tuesday 21 December 2004, Page 8

Woman Living with HIV Aspires to Become an MP

AWASSA (WIC), December 20, 2004—One of the leading women in the fight against HIV/AIDS, Birhane Kelkay, told journalists that she will contest for a seat in the House of Peoples Representatives to ensure that the rights of people living with the virus are respected. Birhane, who has been living with the virus for over a decade, said she wants to be in parliament to help people living with the virus build confidence and show the world that they can work and contribute for the well being of their society.

Full Story: http://www.waltainfo.com/EnNews/2004/Dec/20Dec04/Dec20e2.htm

IntraHealth Sees Hope Yonder of FGC ban with Practicing Communities Involving Increasingly

ADDIS ABABA (ENA), December 19, 2004—The time to see the total elimination from Ethiopia of the infamous female genital cutting (FGC) may be far yonder. But activities towards that end seems to be taking hold as interventions have managed somehow to reach out to the communities practicing FGC with information, education and communication (IEC) services. IntraHealth International has said the various interventions by Governmental and Non-Governmental organizations against Female Genital Cutting in various parts of the country are beginning to pay off now that the public have increasingly been joining in.

Full Story: http://www.ena.gov.et/default.asp?CatId=9&NewsId=158143

PMTCT Program in Dilla Hospital Said Encouraging

DILLA (ENA), December 19, 2004—The Dilla Hospital Medical Director said encouraging results have been registered in the on-going efforts to prevent Mother to Child transmission of HIV/AIDS in the hospital in Gedio Zone of the South Ethiopia People's State over the last one year. The Medical Director Dr. Liulseged Yohannes made the statement last Friday during a media visit to the hospital to look at the ongoing Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) of HIV/AIDS .

Full Story: http://www.ena.gov.et/default.asp?CatId=9&NewsId=158098

US Allocates 20 Million USD to Support Half a Million Orphans

ADDIS ABABA (EH), December 16, 2004—The United States allocated 20 million USD through Save the Children (SC/US) and its partners to support over half a million orphans and other vulnerable children in the coming five years in Ethiopia. Speaking at program entitled Positive Change: Children, Communities and Care (PC3) held at the Exhibition Centre yesterday, President Girma Wolde-Girogis said that due to various man-made and natural reasons, children are becoming more vulnerable and demanding more protection and support.

Full Story: http://www.waltainfo.com/EnNews/2004/dec/16Dec04/Dec16e2.htm

Business Leaders Urged to Enhance Efforts to Arrest AIDS

ADDIS ABABA (WIC), December 15, 2004—Business leaders should speed up activities to save employees from dangers posed by HIV/AIDS, Kebour Ghenna, President of Ethiopian Business Coalition Against HIV/AIDS, said. Welcoming representatives from some 30 industries to a two-day workshop under the title HIV/AIDS Business leadership Forum for Action, Kebour said, business leaders should exert maximum effort to make sure that experience and knowledge in life management skills are acquired both individually and collectively so that the virus can be defeated at grassroots.

Full Story: http://www.waltainfo.com/EnNews/2004/dec/15Dec04/Dec16e1.htm

HIV/AIDS Battle Office Urges Devising Problem Solving Strategies

ADDIS ABABA (WIC), December 15, 2004—The Addis Ababa HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office urged all involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS to design and implement problem solving and effective programs aimed at arresting the spread of the pandemic. Speaking at a workshop organized here Monday to assess HIV/AIDS Prevention and control activities, Office Head Dr. Ashenafi Haile said that the programs should be devised in compliance with the magnitude of the problem in the community, the desired standards and distribution in the vulnerable groups of the society. Pertinent bodies are vested with the responsibility of further strengthening those HIV/AIDS prevention and control programs already under implementation through the organization of timely supervision and evaluation mechanisms, he said. Dr. Ashenafi has described the integrated efforts of those concerned bodies and the distribution of the programs as minimal compared to the magnitude of the spread of the disease in the metropolis. Addis Ababa City Administration health Bureau Head Dr. Iyob Kamil said on his part that the Administration has issued a directive aimed at sharing the experiences of institutions involved in the prevention and control of the pandemic. Family Health International Ethiopia, Francesca Stuert said on the occasion that integrated approach towards the arrest of the disease is crucial so as to better respond to the needs of AIDS patients and people living with the virus as well as ease social and economic vices caused by the pandemic.

Source: The Ethiopian Herald, Wednesday 15 December 2004, Page 2