HIV/AIDS awareness stepped up

The development agency Save the Children on Tuesday said it would step up HIV/AIDS awareness programmes in remote areas of Ethiopia to ensure the pandemic does not further hamper relief efforts. More than six million Ethiopians are facing food shortages due to severe drought for three consecutive years. "In parts of Africa the emergency situation is said to be worsened or even caused by HIV/AIDS," Save the Children's US deputy programme director, Dennis Walto, told the UN news service PlusNews. Walto said HIV/AIDS could undermine emergency aid work as the virus hits the most productive age group in communities. "We are trying to head off that type of situation by using the emergency as an opportunity to reach hundreds of thousands of remote people with the message about HIV/AIDS," Walto added.