HIV/AIDS efforts crippled by silence

Ethiopia's conservative society is hampering national efforts to raise HIV/AIDS awareness, an AIDS NGO has said.

Taddese Aynalem, chairman of the NGO, Dawn of Hope, said the lack of awareness campaigns had also resulted in many Ethiopians failing to change their sexual behaviour.

Agence France Presse (AFP) news agency quoted Aynalem as saying: "The age-old tradition of male domination has crippled open discussion on the gravity of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, a situation compounded by unwarranted sexual practices within the rigidly conservative society."

Penetrating tradition and breaking the silence about HIV/AIDS has challenged local NGOs, whose work is often limited to towns and cities due to finance and infrastructure constraints.

"Although the situation in rural Ethiopia is still unknown, reports trickling in from the countryside are alarming and indicate that the country is losing its productive force in a silent but dramatic way, due to a lack of awareness campaigns and poor medical structures," Taddese added.