The Inside Scoop
Thursday, 16 May 2013 07:48
JHU.CCP Ethiopia Hosts Graduate Practicum Program
Written by Meklit G.Michael
“I’ve learned that developing [health communication materials] is not a haphazard process [but something] that needs time, care, critical thinking and creativity” Kenzudin Assefa, practicum participant. Kenzudin is one of eleven Health Education & Behavioral Science graduate students from Jimma University who came to the JHU.CCP Ethiopia field office for a two-week practicum on strategic health communication materials’ development. The practicum is part of a long-term capacity building arrangement with Jimma University’s Department of Health Education & Behavioral Science designed to supplement the theoretical studies of graduating students with hands-on practical experience developing print and radio materials. As part of the practicum the graduating students, were linked with various units at CCP to design, produce and pre-test radio and print materials to be used by the programs. Students were first given short presentations about CCP’s program areas and refresher trainings on the P-process, developing creative briefs, script writing for print…
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Thursday, 14 February 2013 07:36
Exclusive Breastfeeding for Better Health and Better Survival
Written by Meklit G.Michael
The World Health Organization endorsed a recommendation in 2001 that infants should be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of life and receive adequate and safe additional foods after that while breastfeeding continues for two years or beyond (WHO, 2007). In Ethiopia, also, mothers are encouraged to exclusively breastfeed their infants. According to Save the Children’s State of the World’s Mothers 2012, 52% of babies in Ethiopia are exclusively breastfed for the first six months. Many of the mothers who do not exclusively breastfeed their infants do so for various reasons and feed their infants with formula milk, other fluids including water mixed with sugar or rue plant (tenadam). In a developing country such as Ethiopia, the choice to exclusively breastfeed or not could be a matter of life and death for the child. Especially in low income households where sanitary conditions may not be as desirable in order…
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The new HIV Single Point Estimate results show that among new HIV infections of around 28,000 individuals in the past year, around 8,000 infections were acquired at birth. This shows that a substantial percentage of the new infections come from mother-to-child transmissions of HIV. This number, though low compared to previous trends and other sub-Sahara African countries, is still high considering the MDG goal Ethiopia needs to meet by 2015 - zero new HIV infections among children. It’s commendable that Ethiopia has registered tremendous drops in new HIV infections with trends showing 90% reductions, a 53% fall in AIDS related deaths and 71% coverage in antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in the past decade. According to the new HIV Single Point Estimate, National HIV prevalence has also gone down to 1.4% from 6.6% in 2001. Currently the number of people living with HIV/AIDS is around 790,000 according to UNAIDS’s Estimate with new…
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“… in the beginning, the story was not that interesting to me but after a while it captivated me….” said assistant Sergeant Deribew Chekol. Deribew is one of many avid followers of The Shooting Stars - a print serial drama produced by the AIDS Resource Center for the Federal Police force. The serial drama is produced in the form of cartoon comic books portraying characters going through realistic life experiences and adopting healthy and HIV preventive practices. “I started associating the stories with my life and began to intently follow the encounters of the characters. I think about my life while following their stories…..when one of the characters got tested and was told that he was HIV positive I was shocked. I was very distressed….” said Deribew. Assistant Sergeant Deribew Chekol joined the Federal Police Force after having finished his 10th grade education with the intention of becoming self-sufficient and…
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Friday, 05 October 2012 06:31
Children Living with HIV Make Hero Books and Become Empowered
Written by Meklit G.Michael
“No one had ever talked to me about the challenges I faced because of my HIV positive status” said one girl crying. This girl was part of a group of children who came together on a workshop from August 08-10, 2012 to talk about the psycho social challenges they faced because of their HIV status and what living with HIV was like for them. The children were between the ages of 10 to 15 and came from low-income households and orphanages. The workshop which was organized around the making of hero books through a series of drawings, paintings and autobiographical storytelling, encourages the children to draw their circle of support (friends, family, relatives) and put in words what it means to them to be a hero and who their heroes are. They also write what people say about HIV, what the children themselves think about it and their perceived challenges…
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