The parties reviewed the emergency situation in the region and agreed to the establishment of a joint Task Force that would oversee the implementation of the conclusions and recommendations of the consultative meeting. The responsibilities of the Task Force include, inter alia, preparation of a contingency plan of emergency relief in case the October Deyr rains fail in the SNRS; identification and implementation of partnership arrangements; proposing lasting solutions to the problem of IDPs and support ongoing planned capacity building interventions in the SNRS. It was recommended that the contingency plan be made ready by the first week of October 2001.

Members of the consultative meeting also visited IDP shelters in Hartishiek and toured the Jerrer Valley Pipeline Project being executed by UNHCR towards improving potable water for refugees and local communities in and around Kebribeyah.

On 14 September 2001, the Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) until 15 March 2002. The number of troops and military observers remains unchanged. The Council unanimously adopting resolution 1369 (2001) and called on the parties to cooperate fully and expeditiously with UNMEE in the implementation of its mandate and to abide scrupulously by the letter and spirit of the agreements they signed. UNMEE currently has some 4,000 peacekeepers and about 250 military observers, in addition to civilian staff.

HIV/AIDS Training to be Launched
The UNAIDS, in collaboration with UNMEE HIV/AIDS Task Force and Ethiopian Ministry of Defense would be launching training on HIV/AIDS for 23 Ethiopian Armed Forces participants and 2 UNMEE staff members. The two-week HIV/AIDS "Training of Trainers" course will begin 14 October at the united Nations conference Center (UNCC). A similar programme for the Eritrean military was conducted in July.

According to DPPB Jijiga, a total of 16 districts are severely affected including all four districts of Warder zone (particularly Boh and Danot ), eastern parts of Korahe zone, Harshin district of Jijiga zone, Garbo and Hamero districts in Fik zone, Filtu, Moyale and Hay Suftu districts in Liben zone and parts of Afder zone including Dolo Bay and El Kere. In some places such as Gunegedo in Degebur, and also in Denan, large numbers of drought displaced are dependent on single sources of water, trucked from over 10 kilometers distance. Over the last few weeks, emergency water tankering has been initiated by DPPB with DPPC and UNICEF support in parts of Warder, Degehbour and Hargele. MSF-B recently resumed tankering for IDP populations in Denan and both ACF and PCAE are expected to begin tankering operations in coming days for Boh and Domo (Warder zone) and Filtu areas. Through a recent Netherlands Government emergency contribution, UNICEF has additional funds to support these measures in coordination with DPPB/DPPC. It is hoped that tankering operations will not be required beyond late October if Deyr rains are favorable.

Warder situation: A team comprised of DPPC early warning department, DPPC information Unit (audio-visual crew), the regional DPPB and Bureau for Livestock, Environment and Crop Development (LECDB) visited Warder and Danot woredas of Warder zone from 25 August to 4 September 2001. The team travelled thorough eastern route of Gashamo woreda, Danot and Warder. (The team did not visit Geladin and Boh woredas.)

Currently the areas of Gashamo in Degehbour zone and more particularly Shilabo in Korahe zone, where livestock arrived from Warder zone and elsewhere, are over-crowded with humans and animals, creating heavy pressure on the scarce resources of pasture, water and food.

There are recent reports of some rain in the first week of September in Degehbour, Aware and Gunegedo, all in Degehbour zone, which may be an indication of the Deyr rains coming soon. The Deyr rains usually begin in the north and move south.

Save the Children-UK's nutritional surveillance report released in August showed that the nutritional status for North Wollo and East and West Hararghe has remained stable since the early Belg survey in April and is currently found at a satisfactory levels with 94.3% and 94.2% mean weight for length in North Wollo and East and West Hararghe respectively. Thiswhich shows general improvement in the north-eastern highlands where nutritional status remained precarious during the past four to five years. of Belg failure.

Similarly, Save the Children-US on the other hand undertook nutritional surveys in Gode woreda of Gode zone zone and Hargele woreda [SHOULD BE Hargele woreda of Afder zone] of Afder zone Somali region in early August. Results show that the nutritional status of children under the age of five years has improved significantly as compared to previous surveys, especially last year at same thistime in Gode time.

DPPC Receiving a Quarter of the Relief Pledged
The Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Commission (DPPC) said it has obtained only a quarter of relief pledged this year by donors to assist the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) due to the recent Eritrean invasion of Ethiopia. According to the Commission, 202,730 quintals of grain and supplementary food has been secured out of the 826,180 quintals pledged by international donor agencies to date.

UNMEE Mandate Extended
On 14 September 2001, the Security Council extended the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) until 15 March 2002. The number of troops and military observers remains unchanged. By unanimously adopting resolution 1369 (2001), the Council also called on the parties to cooperate fully and expeditiously with UNMEE in the implementation of its mandate and to abide scrupulously by the letter and spirit of the agreements signed by Ethiopia and Eritrea. UNMEE currently has some 4,000 peacekeepers and about 250 military observers, in addition to civilian staff.

This year’s Belg rain and harvest were perhaps among the best in recent years. Many of the areas that grow the Belg season crops have managed to produce enough to see them through to the next meher harvest in November and December. Maize and sorghum, which are long cycle meher crops planted during the belg season, have also benefited greatly from the good and timely rain.

According to the Greater Horn of Africa Climate Outlook Forum, the weather forecast for Ethiopia shows:

• increased likelihood of below normal to near normal rainfall over extreme southern Ethiopia: lowlands of South Omo zone (Kuraz woreda), lowlands of Borena zone (Dire, Arero, Teltele and Moyale woredas), and in Somali region woredas bordering Somalia in Liben and Afder zones (Dolo Odo and Moyale in Liben, and Dolo Bay and Bare in Afder zone). Note that the southern woredas in Afder and Liben zone of Somali region received much below average rainfall during the past Gu season (March to May).
• increased likelihood of above normal to near normal rainfall in western Ethiopia and
• increased likelihood of near normal to above normal rainfall over the remaining parts of the country, i.e. northern, central, eastern and south-eastern parts of the country, including most of Somali region.

The agricultural performance report disseminated by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) has stated that the current meher season rains have been favourable for most areas except for southern Oromiya, Gambella, most parts of Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region (SNNPR), West and East Hararge, and Jijiga; these areas have exhibited below to much below average rainfall. In North and South Wollo there is concern about excessive rainfall that is affecting harvesting of late Belg crops.

Therefore, in spite of a significant reduction of beneficiaries in Belg-dependent areas in general this year, current poor production prospects in North and South Wollo and East and West Hararge, added to their chronic food insecurity, meaning that they will remain areas of concern needing close monitoring.

Estimated requirements of supplementary food for August-December are 21,375 tons vegetable oil and 17,211 tons blended food. This is based on a 1.5 kg
vegetable oil ration for all those in need of assistance, and a 4.5 kg blended food ration for the most vulnerable in the worst affected woredas. Resourcing of these commodities remains a cause for concern, with nothing available for distribution from September onwards. DPPC is in the process of dispatching 3,600 tons pulses and 2,300 tons vegetable oil from WFP food in the Rapid Response Reserve stocks Stocks to the worst affected woredas of Somali, Amhara and Oromiya regions.

Thanks to timely loan repayments and minimal loan requests in recent months, the Ethiopian Food Security Reserve (EFSR) stocks remain high, with over 264,152 tons of uncommitted stocks at end of August 2001. Over the coming months, there may be additional borrowing of up to 50,000 tons, which will be more than offset by scheduled repayments. Outstanding loans currently stand at over 170,000 tons, of which almost 95,000 tons (56%) are to WFP and over 60,000 tons (35%) to the EU. Most of these loans are scheduled to be repaid by year-end, should EFSR have sufficient storage space to accept these repayments.

After eighteen months of special focus under the mandate of the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Envoy, Catherine Bertini, the Horn of Africa is increasingly looking at endemic food insecurity as its key problem. Long-term solutions are being considered both within the context of national development plans and Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) processes and a World Bank/FAO initiative, on instructions from the Secretary-General, that commenced with the report of an inter-agency mission in October 2000. Follow-up missions are now in the field, and a planning meeting, following on the one held in Nairobi in July, is scheduled for October. However, interim short- or medium-term strategy will be necessary to cope with the beneficiaries still dependent on international assistance. The Special Envoy, who had originally programmed a visit to the region in the last week of September to tackle these issues, will now hold a series of teleconferences instead. On the basis of these discussions she will make her recommendations to the Secretary-General.

UNAIDS has supported the update and launch of the National Strategic Framework (NSF) (2001-2005) that contains the Ethiopian strategic vision, a key document that will guide all partners in combating the epidemic. The NSF addresses priority areas of intervention and the institutional arrangements that are crucial for an effective national response to the epidemic.

UNAIDS is also closely working with the National HIV/AIDS Secretariat in updating the Federal and Regional implementation plans. Particularly, the United Nations Theme Group (UNTG) has been instrumental in the establishment of a multisectoral approach to HIV/AIDS and in the establishment of the National HIV/AIDS Council and Secretariat. The UNTG on HIV/AIDS is providing technical, material and financial support to strengthen the capacity of NACs. UNAIDS has provided a national consultant to work with the secretariat on the NSF and has seconded a Program Officer to NACs.

The launch of Ethiopian Multi-sectoral AIDS Project (EMSAP) - an over 59 million dollar project supported by the World Bank aiming at scaling up prevention, care and support for people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS - is a result of a collaborative work between the UN family and the government.

The UN Country Team in Ethiopia further undertook a common country assessment and developed a United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), a document having HIV/AIDS as one of its six thematic areas that will serve as a planning framework for all UN agencies for a three-year period.

The government with the support of WHO and UNAIDS has also explored current activities in HIV/AIDS care and support and came up with suggestions/ recommendations to accelerate the implementation of care in Ethiopia. The output includes a prioritized list of interventions costed for two years. The Ministry of Health takes the lead role in the implementation of these interventions and recommendations.

Furthermore, realizing the threat posed by HIV/AIDS on UN staff, the United Nations Theme Group on HIV/AIDS in 1999 initiated an HIV/AIDS Education and Care programme. A special taskforce was established to address the issue of HIV/AIDS within the agencies. The peer education approach was considered to be the most effective method to educate staff members. Eighty staff members have been trained as Peer Educators and are facilitating and coordinating HIV/AIDS awareness creation as well as condom promotion and distribution in their respective organizations. The programme also facilitates the identification of all available and reliable HIV/AIDS related care and support services in Addis Ababa. This assessment is currently ongoing and the findings will be disseminated to all staff. A booklet on facts about HIV/AIDS has been produced for all staff. In addition, the Workplace Education and Care Program (WECP) task force is working with the UN Health Care Center on a project for adolescents and works together with the UN Women’s Association to expand the activities to the families of UN staff. The taskforce also promotes availability of ARV drugs to all UN staff and family.

The Technical Working Group on HIV/AIDS, in collaboration with the technical staff from line ministries, NGOs and donors undertook a number of assessments/ studies in the year 2000 including:

• the Assessment of the Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) situation in the country and the development of a national guideline on VCT that is believed to fill an important identified gap during the joint partnership mission as well as the UNDAF exercise. Technical and financial assistance was provided by WHO, UNICEF, USAID and UNAIDS;
• the assessment of the status of HIV-AIDS, the epidemiology of HIV-AIDS in Ethiopia being used by the government, NGOS and other stakeholders for various purposes;
• situation assessment of Mother to Child Transmission (supported by UNICEF) as well as an assessment report on scaling up of community and Home Based Care for people living with HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia.

Moreover, a situation assessment of HIV/AIDS on the labor force led by ILO is underway and a study to identify Socio cultural Determinants of HIV infection in Ethiopia is being finalized through UNESCO with the financial support of UNAIDS.

Establishment of a mechanism and use of programme acceleration funds is one of the major achievements of the TWG and TG. In the year 2000-2001 UNAIDS provided financial assistance of 800,000 USD for 26 HIV/AIDS projects executed by UN Agencies in the country.

African Development Forum (ADF): The UN TG collaborated with the ECA and OAU in organizing an international conference on HIV/AIDS with the theme of "AIDS – the Greatest Leadership Challenge" in December 2000 in Addis Ababa where the ADF consensus and plan of action- leadership to overcome HIV/AIDS was endorsed. Following the ADF, the OAU special summit on HIV/AIDS was held in Abuja in April 2001. The Abuja declaration included a heads of state pledge to set a target of allocating at least 15% of their annual national budgets for the improvement of the health sector which will in turn help to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS): UNGASS, held in New York from 25-27 April, adopted a declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS. Interested readers can access this declaration from the Internet or upon request from UNAIDS/Ethiopia Office.

Currently, UNAIDS is facilitating the participation of delegates from Ethiopia in the upcoming 12^th International Conference on AIDS and STDs in Africa (ICASA) in Africa which will take place in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from 9 to 13 December 2001.

The HIV/AIDS programme strategies have been linked with the decentralized government planning process, resource allocation and utilization. Stakeholders at different levels have been involved in planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. The main counterpart for the programme is the National HIV/AIDS Council Secretariat at the Federal level and the Regional HIV/AIDS Council Secretariats at the regions. UNICEF is currently providing support to all twelve regions and the National AIDS Council for activities in the following program areas.

The major emphasis of the programme is to prevent young people from contracting HIV. Working with young people as equal partners makes sense because they are not only infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, but they represent a key resource in mobilizing an expanded and effective response to the epidemic. Other key strategy areas include creating a favorable policy environment for youth, and increasing service delivery access to integrated youth-friendly services including Voluntary, Counseling and Testing (VCT).

The most important interventions for preventing mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) are preventing women from getting infected; good antenatal care and maternity practices; counseling and testing; care & support service; and antiretroviral programs. Every effort will be made to encourage pregnant women to learn their HIV status, so that they can make informed decisions, including how best to feed their children. Support has been provided for developing a national protocol for creating awareness regarding PMTCT interventions including the role of VCT services in pilot interventions; infant feeding issues including major risks and benefits of breastfeeding in the Ethiopian context; provision of vitamin A supplements and anemia prophylaxis and treatment; STI diagnosis and treatment; modification of obstetrical care; family planning services; support for mothers and infants; monitoring and evaluation; training; and resources and sustainability. Once protocol and training are in place, support will be provided for implementing PMTCT pilot projects in urban settings.

In order to address the needs and concerns of children and families affected by HIV/AIDS, communities have been mobilized to provide basic legal protection and human rights, schooling and skills training, as well as support networks. Strategies include strengthening the capacity of families to cope with their problems; mobilizing community-based responses; strengthening the capacity of children and young people to meet their own needs; ensuring that the government protects the most vulnerable children; provides essentials policies and services; and creates an enabling environment for HIV/AIDS affected children and their families.

The HIV/AIDS programme is framed within a human rights approach emphases on the rights of young people and women to life and basic services, and ensuring the rights of children affected and orphaned by HIV/AIDS to care and basic services.

In recent months, UNICEF has provided technical and financial support to the Youth Forum at the African Development Forum (ADF) conference by mobilizing youth from over 20 countries to attend the conference. A youth solidarity march with 10,000 students was also organized by the Addis Ababa AIDS Council and UNICEF. The youth marched to the ADF and delivered a speech to the Heads of State meeting on behalf of young people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

UNICEF provided HIV/AIDS prevention training and condoms to approximately 200 UNMEE observers prior to their outposting.

Financial and technical support was provided to the National AIDS Council for organizing the workshop on the Situation of Children Affected by HIV/AIDS. UNICEF has also provided support to the Government of Ethiopia for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) delegation, specifically the youth advocate, women advocate and PLWHAs.

With the support from the Danish Government, UNICEF provided an additional $50,000 to Tigray Region for integrating HIV/AIDS interventions in the existing IDP and emergency program initiatives.

A draft training of trainers curricula for counselors providing youth-friendly VCT services in freestanding settings has been drafted with John Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) and the National AIDS Council. A review workshop was conducted in Nazareth in August, which brought together federal counterparts, nine regions, youth groups, national and international NGOs, women’s associations and faith-based organization to review the curricula. The document will be finalized by November 2001 with master training workshops to be conducted in the regions in early 2002.

Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) signed an agreement in September 2001 with UNICEF for $1.6 million over the next three years for implementing youth HIV/AIDS prevention and participation activities. Strategies will include developing youth-oriented and friendly materials and services by involving youth as changes agents and project implementers.

The HIV/AIDS epidemic poses a serious threat to agriculture and rural development, particularly among poor rural people that inhabit marginal areas. The most pressing concern from the agricultural sector is the enormous labor loss and stress that AIDS causes, which disrupts and constrains the agricultural dynamics. Consequently, AIDS undermines household food security and nutrition, as well as it furthers impoverishment. Accordingly, FAO is developing a programme to mitigate AIDS impact on agriculture and rural livelihoods, arresting the threats of food insecurity, malnutrition, and impoverishment in AIDS-affected households. To this end, it FAO is currently is completing a Guidelines for integrating HIV/AIDS concerns in agricultural emergency operations. These Guidelines are being currently tested in Ethiopia, including areas under FAO emergency intervention. In emergency situations, AIDS aggravates food insecurity, whilst constraining the prospects of agricultural and rural rehabilitation. Accordingly, tThere is a growing need to address emergencies in the context of AIDS and hence to implement tailored responses. Since AIDS-affected households are likely to become among the most vulnerable and food insecure people in emergency situations, the agricultural emergency sector needs to develop AIDS-sensitive interventions, including appropriate cross-sector collaboration and institutional mechanisms. For more information contact: Leo Kortekaas, e-mail: leo.kortekaas@field.fao.org tel: 517233 FAO Emergency Unit.

Care Ethiopia’s Family Planning and HIV/AIDS Prevention Project is a 5 years (1996-2001) project operating in east and west Hararghe and east Shoa of Oromiya region. So far the project has covered 92 Peasant Association (PAs) (845,967 beneficiaries) out of the planed 110. Its overarching goal is to improve the health status of women and children, with an emphasis on reproductive health. Major components of the programme include: a)IEC by trained Peer Educators, religious leaders, PLWH/A and school anti-AIDS club members using different medias (IEC materials, campaign, mini media and local radio stations); b)Condom promotion and distribution by Community Based Reproductive Health Agents (CBRHAs) and peer educators; c)Improving the quality of service delivery in the health facilities and training in Syndromic STD case management. To this end, CARE has trained 344 CBRHAs and 373 peer educators out of the community, in which one CBRHAs and two peer educators are assigned to one village.

Concern Ethiopia launched a six month research exercise, in June, to build institutional knowledge and understanding ofproduce an information document on the state of HIV/AIDS in the Ethiopian with a view to availing information towards context that can be utilized in developing and mainstreaming HIV/AIDS interventions. The research involves conducting semi-structured interviews with more than 33 international and local NGOs, Anti-AIDS Clubs, HIV/AIDS Councils, CBOs, PLWHA and health institutions within and outside Addis. This information, along with experiences from outside Ethiopia, will be compiled in a detailed report covering who is doing what, the methodologies used, best practices and lessons learned with regard to HIV/AIDS. The production of the document is expected to be finished in December 2001 and will be widely circulatedready for distribution. For additional information contact Ato Alemayehu G/mariam Mariam at Concern (Tel. 611730).