Good Morning Ethiopia!

Hi. This morning, I looked out at a sight I’ve never seen before—early light coming over the hills of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A few of us on the (RED) team are lucky enough to be on a learning tip with our colleagues at ONE and a diverse group of policy leaders. We are in Ethiopia because—while it is not a (RED) country—Ethiopian Health Minister Tedros is using innovative practices to get care, including HIV testing and treatment, to the people who need it most.

By the way, all of Addis seems to be under construction—which makes sense because “Addis” means “new!”

We started the day driving out into the countryside to see how HIV care is administered there. After some hectic stop and start traffic, the road opened onto a beautiful valley. Out first stop was a ten-room Health Center where the locals can go to get basic services, including antiretroviral treatment. Every morning, more than 200 people line up to get their medicine. This is not a hospital but, on average, two babies are born here every day. The best part is that everyone gets tested, they know how to protect babies from getting HIV during childbirth, and all the ARVs are free.

Next, we went to a more rural area in Nazrat where Ethiopia’s innovative health extension worker program is at work. We met one of the 30,000 new health extension workers—she is 20 years old and responsible for the health of everyone in her village. (Don’t know about you but I would not have been ready for that at 20.) She was amazing—seeing patients in a three room “Health Post” in the morning and doing house calls in the afternoon.

On the way out, a couple invited us to their village to see their new bed net being hung. This simple net will help to prevent them getting Malaria when the rains come next week. The whole village was full of kids—many of them wearing home-made Obama t-shirts that say “Yes We Can” n English and “God Follow You” in Amharic.

We ended the day at a hospital in Adama where we met doctors focused on helping HIV+ women give birth to HIV-free infants. We met with a support group run by African mothers on ARVs called “Mother to Mother.” They live in extremely poor circumstances but despite this they offered us coffee and popcorn and told us their stories.

The organizer told us through a translator that when she found out she had HIV, she left her home in fear and lived in the bush for days until she was exhausted. That was nine years ago—we have come a long way since then. Here we were, surrounded by beautiful HIV+ women and their HIV- free children. The medicine works.

A member of our group asked the translator if there was anything the women wanted to ask or tell us. The youngest member in the group spoke immediately. Our eyes moved to the translator but for a few moments he did not speak. “Please don’t forget that we are here.”

It was a day we will never forget.

Colin @ (RED)