HIV/AIDS Hotline

The hotline provides up-to-date information on HIV/AIDS including voluntary counseling, testing, prevention of mother-to-child transmission and anti-retroviral therapy.

The hotline phone number (952) was pilot-tested in the Addis Ababa area in December 2004 and is be available nationwide. Ethiopia’s AIDS Resource Centre (ARC) operates the hotline. The project organisers hope the hotline would provide an alternative source of confidential and anonymous counselling and support for those infected and affected by the disease. The centre houses the hotline service, where seven full-time staff and fifteen volunteers use modern telephone systems to counsel callers.

ARC serves as a hub for a host of resources and services, such as a multimedia collection, computer terminals with Internet access, audiovisual equipment, and an HIV/AIDS website with searchable databases of local and international HIV/AIDS organisations, materials, news, events and conferences, and funding opportunities.

HIV/AIDS.

"Our counselors are trained to encourage callers seeking HIV prevention information to abstain from sex, be faithful to one partner, or use condoms every time they have sex," said Dr. Tadesse Wuhib, CDC's Ethiopia Director. "They also have up-to-date resources on everything from prevention of mother-to-child transmission to anti-retroviral therapy to care and support for those living with HIV."

During the three-month pilot phase, counsellors were closely monitored and supervised to monitor the quality of their work, and support materials were tested and revised as needed. Additional counsellors will be hired and trained as the hotline is available nationwide.