Country Situation Analysis

UN Support to the National Response

Contacts

UNAIDS Global Report 2006 Data

The government has not yet established one national coordinating authority outside the Ministry of Health. The coordination of the national response is the responsibility of several divisions in the Ministry of Health. The Ministry of National Development and Education also coordinate their HIV response.

UNAIDS assisted the Ministry of Health with the development of a national monitoring and evaluation framework but it has not yet been finalized by the government. There is a monitoring and evaluation unit located in the Ministry of Health but staff training is needed to operationalize the office.

The current border conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia has resulted in the drafting of an increased number of young people into the military. The 1998 border war left large numbers of mobile populations (internally displaced person returnees or deportees) who are at risk of HIV infection. This increases the risk of HIV infection.

There are no laws or regulations protecting those who are infected and affected by HIV infection. There is however a People Living with HIV Association set up by the government which is making an effort to address stigma and discrimination informally. The Ministry of Justice is not yet engaged in the response to HIV. Government working along with UNICEF and UNFPA are working on prevention in schools and out-of-school youth. Treatment and care of people living with HIV started in August 2005 and already 1200 people are enrolled in antiretroviral treatment. Barriers to prevention, treatment and care are mainly the lack of skilled health-care workers and limited resources. Eritrea had one bilateral donor (USAID) but they left in October 2005.

Challenges

• Need for support of development partners in mobilizing resources for HIV  and ensuring that these resources are efficiently and effectively used;
• Need to build capacity of skilled personnel in the various aspects of HIV to scale up prevention, treatment, care and support;
• Need to involve the Ministry of Justice in the HIV response to facilitate the development of laws and regulations to protect those infected and affected;
• Need for high-level discussions with government regarding the "Three Ones" principles; and
• Need to scale up voluntary counselling and testing and prevention of mother-to-child testing to include the rural areas and promote access to all.

During 2005, the UN family developed, in collaboration with civil society oganizations and bilateral partners, the 2005 Joint UN Implementation Support Plan in support of the National Strategic Framework on HIV and AIDS. The UN contribution towards its implementation was US$ 4.4 million, US$ 1 million more than 2004. Expenditure by the UN family in 2005 was more than 57% of committed resources. The UNAIDS office facilitated the stakeholders meeting for completion and submission of the UNGASS report and the completion of the universal access report. The UN family has a strong UN Learning Strategy programme "Caring for Us" and is continuing its implementation. The 2006 Implementation Support Plan is in the process of being completed and the UN has established the Joint UN Team on AIDS as directed by Secretary-General and Global Task Team recommendations. The Technical Working Group meets monthly.

• mount a national campaign against stigma and discrimination, establish AIDS in the workplace policies and extend the workplace programmes to at least 10 public and private sector companies and make prevention of mother-to-child transmission services available to at least 10% of pregnant women in Eritrea;
• build capacity in the Ministry of Education to scale up the implementation of life skills education in all schools, develop a package of behaviour change communication services focusing on the adoption of safe sexual practices by young people, generate strategic information regarding the knowledge, attitude and behaviour of school children;
• ensure adequate supplies of male and female condoms, build capacity of refugee camp health workers to diagnose and treat sexually transmitted infections;
• build capacity of health-care workers to deliver and monitor antiretroviral services, expand home based care  services to include 4000 communities and ensure quality control; and
• provide psychosocial and economic support to orphans and commercially sexually exploited children; finalize the monitoring and evaluation framework on HIV and AIDS; make the monitoring and evaluation unit operational by building the capacity of the NATCoD staff members. Ensure effective use of resources mobilized through the Global Fund. Establish dialogue with government and civil society organizations regarding the scaling-up of the response to prevention, treatment, care and support.

Contacts

Andrew Kosia
Chair, UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS
(WHO Representative)
Tel: +291 1 15 1613
Fax: +291 1 15 1322
Email: kosiaa@afro.who.int

Pascal Steiner
UNAIDS Country Coordinator
Tel: +291 1 15 15 99
Fax: +291 1 15 16 00
Postal Address:
5 Warsay Avenue
P.O. Box 5366
Asmara, Eritrea
Email: stenierp@unaids.org

NATCoD for Eritrea (NAC)
Andeberhan Tesfazion
Director, NATCoD
Ministry of Health
P.O. Box 212
Asmara, Eritrea
Tel: +291 1 122129
Fax: +291 1 124265
Email: andatt2005@yahoo.com

Networks of people living with HIV
BIDHO (Association for people living with HIV & AIDS and those affected)
Corp. Hagos Ghirmay
Chairman
P.O. Box 5537
Tel: +291 1 202772
Fax: +291 1 202797
Email: challengehiv@yahoo.com

UNAIDS Global Report 2006 Data

Country profiles provide key information on the status-quo of the HIV pandemic in the countries of the region. Data is updated by the UNAIDS Country Offices on a yearly basis.