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Ethiopia on right track to universal access: Health Minister |
| Addis Ababa, March 1, 2006 - Health Minister Dr. Theodros Adhanom said the government is taking necessary actions that lead to universal access to HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support services. Speaking at the conclusion of a two-day national consultation on scaling up towards universal access to prevention, care and treatment yesterday, Dr. Theodros said that the government is streamlining the health system and introducing effective mechanism for appropriate utilization of financial resources towards scaling up interventions towards universal access. According to the Minister, the government is providing hospital-based training to train 30,000 health extension workers by 2008. “Over the past few years, we have been able to train 10,000 health workers. Our plan by 2008 is to have a health post in each kebele and a health officer in each health post.” The Minister also announced plan to harmonize financial resources and tap the community’s resources to ensure sustainability of interventions. Major key obstacles identified in the consultation were financial and budgetary limitations, lack of human resources, lack of involvement of local and traditional institutions and lack of quality of services and programmes. Based on the commitments made at the 2005 World Summit and the Gleneagles G8 Summit to support countries in achieving as close as possible to universal access for all those who need it by 2010, the UNAIDS Secretariat and its Cosponsors facilitate country processes on scaling up towards Universal Access. The country report on the national consultation will be submitted to the continental consultation which will be held on March 6-9 2006 in Congo, Brazzaville. (The Ethiopian Herald) |
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