Ethiopia has one of the world’s highest numbers of HIV cases, with 1.5 million people infected. The New Partners Initiative, created under the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), has selected Geneva Global to manage community-based efforts focusing on HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia because of our track record in finding the best local implementers to create lasting Life Change.

This three-year Initiative leverages $6 million from the New Partners Initiative with $3 million from private donors to bring together 30 of the most experienced grass-roots organizations, reaching more than a half million people with HIV/AIDS education and care and making significant strides against the epidemic. Upon completion, Geneva Global researchers will analyze the results to guide future funding and help local organizations refine their approach for even greater impact.

The goal is to facilitate lasting change for individuals and communities so Ethiopia can reverse the tide of its AIDS epidemic.

Initiative Profile »

Ethiopia - Africa’s third most-populous nation and the world’s eighth least-developed country - is among the hardest hit by the AIDS epidemic. Grinding poverty and inadequate healthcare services have stifled efforts to curtail the spread of HIV.

Parents dying of AIDS often leave children behind with no one to care for them, forcing youth to drop out of school and resort to risky behaviors such as prostitution for survival income. This puts children at risk of infection and traps them in a cycle of poverty. Females 15 to 24 face twice the risk of HIV infection as males in the same age group, because they have less access to prevention information and are pressured to have sex earlier. It is crucial to reach children with prevention information before they become sexually active.

This Initiative focuses on providing HIV prevention and AIDS care in Addis Ababa, the capital, and Amhara and Oromia states, which are home to more than half the country’s population as well as 58 percent of HIV-positive Ethiopians and 61 percent of the country’s AIDS orphans.

Ethiopia in Focus »

Ethiopia has made efforts to recover from political instability and recurring food shortages, but HIV threatens to negate recent improvements. The virus has decimated Ethiopia’s work force: 91 percent of infections strike people between the ages 15 and 49. As communities disintegrate under the strain of AIDS-related illness and death, they are left with few resources to address issues such as poverty and illiteracy.

The areas that this Initiative focuses on are home to many small, effective organizations, but they need more resources to successfully curtail the spread of HIV and care for people infected or affected by the virus in their service areas. Investing in this Initiative will help such organizations achieve these goals.

Fighting the disease will preserve and support families and communities, enabling them to strengthen Ethiopia by developing a stronger economy. With proper investment, local implementers are prepared to take on the challenge of reversing Ethiopia’s epidemic.

Amsale W. Michael, 19, is the oldest of five siblings and has never attended school. Their mother, a widow, has a disability that prevents her from working. After their father died, Michael and two of her brothers started working to support the family, and Michael resorted to commercial sex work for survival income. She says, “I was encouraging my two sisters to follow my footsteps and share the burden of feeding our family - to be honest, I did not know anything about HIV/AIDS at that time.” In 2004, a local implementer receiving funding through Geneva Global began educating commercial sex workers about HIV in Addis Ababa. Michael attended a four-day workshop on the topic and decided to seek HIV counseling and testing. She tested positive for the virus. “My first step was to go back to my family and tell them about the pandemic. My two sisters went for counseling and testing and, fortunately, they were free from the virus. I would say that episode rescued my family from demolition.” The implementer provided Michael and her family with vocational training and job placement help. “My family members lead a better life today,” she says.