ADDIS ABABA, April 23 (AFP) - Ethiopia, with more than three million carriers of HIV, has become one of the countries hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic, President Negasso Gidada said.

Some 9.3 percent of the population aged between 15 and 45 are HIV-positive, according to foreign experts, Negasso noted as he launched the National AIDS Council, state television reported late Saturday.

The council will coordinate efforts to contain the spread of the disease, Negasso said at the ceremony gathering several ministers, religious dignitaries, diplomats and representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

The body, headed by Negasso, includes top federal and regional officials, religious leaders and representatives of civil society and NGOs.

"The absence of coordinating and integrating anti-HIV/AIDS initiatives made the fight against the killer disease in the past ineffective," Negasso said.

The head of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abuna Paulos, said for his part that the disease was "attacking the very productive forces of the country" and harming "national economic development and social progress".

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