Inaugurates Building for HIV/AIDS Services

April 3, 2006
No. 09/2006

Addis Ababa (US Embassy) -- The U.S. Charge d’Affaires Ambassador Vicki J. Huddleston on April 3, 2006 recognized the Bella Military Hospital in Addis Ababa for its outstanding performance in the prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS (PMTCT). Ambassador Huddleston and State Minister of Defense H.E. Ato Kassahun Dendir, together inaugurated an HIV Service Building, renovated with funding from the U.S. President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) with the support of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC Ethiopia). The building houses clinics for men, women, and children to receive services such as Voluntary Counseling and Testing and Antiretroviral Treatment.

Also present at the event was President and Chief Executive Officer of JHPIEGO, Dr. Leslie Mancuso, who is visiting Ethiopia this week.  JHPIEGO is a nonprofit international public health organization affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, that works to improve the health of women and families in many countries of the world, including Africa.

In her remarks prior to the building inauguration, Ambassador Huddleston congratulated the doctors, nurses and other staff of the Bella Military Hospital for their outstanding performance in service delivery for the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV, or PMTCT.   In 2004, CDC Ethiopia, in collaboration with U.S. based NGO  JHPIEGO, supported the development of the Ministry of Health document entitled - PMTCT Performance Standards. The purpose of this document was to standardize and promote PMTCT services in Ethiopia through the provision of tools, standards for service delivery and a system to monitor the improvement of PMTCT service delivery at healthcare facilities.

This “standards based” management approach was then implemented in 25 hospitals in Ethiopia supported under the PEPFAR program.  Bella Hospital in Addis Ababa was the first hospital out of the 25 to achieve over 80% of its performance standards. Ambassador Huddleston concluded her remarks by saying, “The staff of this hospital have distinguished themselves in their efforts to institute and improve the quality of HIV preventive and treatment services, and for this you should be proud.  The achievement of Bella hospital in service improvement is a giant step towards improving the quality of HIV services throughout Ethiopia.  Bella Hospital has in effect, set a “gold standard” for other institutions to follow as they too seek to improve their performance through the setting of standards for service delivery.”

The inaugural ceremony highlighted the continuing partnership between the U.S. Government and its agencies and the Ministry of Defense of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to combat HIV/AIDS in the military.

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