ABSTRACT
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) appears to have been introduced to Ethiopia in 1984 or the year before, at a time when Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) had assumed epidemic proportions in other Sub-Saharan countries. The first AIDS cases identified in Ethiopia were seven inpatients diagnosed at a hospital in Addis Ababa in 1986–1987. The AIDS cases reported to the Department of AIDS Control of the Ministry of Health were residents of 27 of the 30 administrative regions, indicating a nationwide spread of the disease. In 1989, using the model “AIDS Calculator” for forecasting AIDS cases, developed by the Surveillance Forecasting and Impact Assessment Unit of the Global Programme on AIDS, projections on AIDS cases were made among some population groups in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government has recognized the extraordinary dimensions of the threat of AIDS to the national health and responded with full commitment to the new health problem.
