------Original message------ From: PlusNews <[email protected]> To: "Elisabeth Janaina" <[email protected]> Date: Thursday, March 8, 2012 9:28:26 AM GMT-0000 Subject: ETHIOPIA: Finding space for people with disabilities on HIV agenda
ETHIOPIA: Finding space for people with disabilities on HIV agenda ADDIS ABABA, 8 March 2012 (PLUSNEWS) - Ethiopians with disabilities say they have been largely excluded from the government's national HIV programmes and are unable to access services. "What comes first is the lack of awareness among persons with disabilities. This is mainly due to the fact that... most modes of communications the campaigners have chosen are not accessible to them and primarily target persons without disabilities," said Liya Solomon, inclusive family planning/reproductive health services project coordinator at the Ethiopian Centre for Disability and Development (ECDD). "The other challenge is inaccessibility of HIV-related services for the group. "For those small numbers that the messages reach and who do come seeking HIV-related services, they face all sorts of challenges, starting from physical barriers in health centres that make it impossible for them to use services like VCT [voluntary HIV counselling and testing]," she added. According to the government [ http://www.unaids.org/en/dataanalysis/monitoringcountryprogress/2010progressreportssubmittedbycountries/ethiopia_2010_country_progress_report_en.pdf ], an estimated seven million Ethiopians - 10 percent of the population - are living with some kind of disability. There is a shortage of data on HIV prevalence among people with disabilities, but one 2008 study of 132 blind people in the northern region of Tigray found an HIV prevalence of 4.5 percent, higher than the national average of about 2.4 percent. The Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia's 2011 Demographic and Health Survey states that an estimated 97 percent of women and 99 percent of men have heard of HIV, while 56 percent -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob?hl=en.
