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Ethiopian Burial Societies Join Fight Against HIV/AIDS
FrontLines - April 2009
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia—Burial societies, which have helped people through the expense and grief surrounding death for centuries
here, are expanding their missions to keep people alive as the HIV/AIDS epidemic exacts its toll.
There are 200,000 burial societies, known as idirs, throughout this country, and almost every Ethiopian is connected
to one, either personally
or through family.
The Tesfa community association
in western Addis Ababa, an idir that has adopted a new name and broader
mission, helps 4,300 orphans and vulnerable children as well as the elderly people who have become their caregivers.
“Many grandparents take care of their grandchildren because [the children’s] parents have died from AIDS,” said Tesfa chairman Berehnu Abera. “The demand for our services is rising because of the epidemic. The problem of orphans and vulnerable
children is getting huge.”
Typically, idir members make small monthly payments to a communal
fund. When a death occurs, the group arranges and pays for funerals and the traditional three- to seven-day mourning period.
“Many community elders opposed participation [in the anti-AIDS work] because of the stigma attached to the disease,” said Tesfa program officer Yonas Zewdu. “Now, in our
district, there are very few HIV-positive people who are bedridden.
Because the stigma has been lifted here, they have revealed their status and gotten medication and support.”
He said, however, that the stigma remains strong in some rural areas.
Save the Children estimates that in Ethiopia the epidemic has created about 1.4 million orphans and vulnerable children, 65,000 of whom are infected with the virus. In urban areas, AIDS patients occupy about 60 percent of hospital beds.
In August 2006, then-Senator Barack Obama saw firsthand how flood victims in Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, were assisted by USAID and the Combined Joint Task Force—Horn of Africa. Glenn Anders, USAID’s director in right, departs Ethiopia in April after a nearly three-year tour. Fekeadeselassie Marye, left, a former program monitor in Ethiopia, is now working at the Agency’s office in Iraq.
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USAID works with organizations
such as Save the Children and local idirs to involve them
in home care. Through the President’s Emergency Plan
for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR),
the United States provided $20 million from 2004 to 2009
for anti-AIDS programs in Ethiopia.
Idirs identify orphans and elders in need of assistance and trains families to care for the sick. The cost of home care is cut as families contribute, such as by providing transportation to health care centers.
Tesfa organizes “community conversations” once every two weeks, where residents identify problems related to HIV and look for collective solutions. “This is a unique and highly effective approach that we are using in Ethiopia,” Zewdu said. “Elderly people who provide care to orphans are able to voice their concerns and receive community
support in the form of counseling, food donations, and financial assistance.”
Tesfa also provides microloans and business
training.
★ - P.K.
These articles originally appeared on America.gov, a Web site produced by the State Department’s Bureau of International Information Programs; reproduced with permission.
FrontLines is published
by the Bureau for Legislative and Public Affairs
U.S. Agency for International Development
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