Ethiopian Review

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — Health Minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom and Country Director of the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Tom Kenyon, today broke ground on the construction of a new Integrated Outpatient Department Annex within the compound of Zewditu Memorial Hospital in Addis Ababa.

Upon completion of the construction, Ethiopia’s most active antiretroviral therapy (ART) treatment center will be incorporated within a comprehensive, state–of–the–treatment facility allowing ART patients to receive the same caring support along side non–ART patients without the fear of being stigmatized by the community.

Zewditu Hospital currently treats over 6,000 ART patients each month, more than any other health facility in Ethiopia. ART patients currently are limited to receiving treatment in a facility composed of two shipping containers due to resource cnstraint. The new Integrated Outpatient Department Annex will be the first of its kind in Ethiopia and designed in accordance with intenational building codes and best practices in construction. In addition, the outpatient annex will serve as a training site for physicians and other health workers in Addis Ababa.

The people of the United States, through the U.S. President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), have committed USD $3.8 Million for the construction of this new Integrated Outpatient Department Annex. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention – Ethiopia (CDC–E) will oversee the construction.

In July 2003, CDC–Ethiopia helped launch Ethiopia’s first ART program at Zewditu, serving HIV positive patients from around the country for a nominal fee. In March 2005, the free ART program began with technical assistance from Johns Hopkins University’s (JHU) TSEHAI Program. Zewditu quickly became the largest HIV clinic with a peak of more than 14,000 patients in its care, and 9,287 patients who have started ART treatment at the center. As free ART programs expanded around the country, patients have transitioned from Zewditu to surrounding hospitals and health centers leaving 5,685 current patients on ART at te hospital.

Supported by JHU–TSEHAI with funding from CDC, Zewditu Hospital also provides comprehensive HIV services such as palliative care, HIV counseling and testing, and services to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child. TB/HIV collaborative activities are conducted. Moreover, STI services and post–exposure prophylaxis (PEP) services are also provided.

(More information: Sofia Yilma, Tel: 011-466-9566, Email: yilmas@et.cdc.gov)