Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2009. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Integrated Regional Information Networks - September 11, 2009
"New Year, new life! Test for HIV, test with your partner, get your children tested and brighten the future of your family! Free testing. Happy New Year!" reads the text message sent to subscribers of the national telecommunication provider, Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation, by the Federal HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (HAPCO), ahead of Ethiopian New Year celebrations, which start on 11 September.
Ethiopia follows a unique calendar, seven years behind the standard Gregorian system. The year has 13 months.
"HAPCO wanted to encourage everybody to know their status; the idea is to promote the testing so that people are aware of it," said Feleke Dana Tanga, HAPCO monitoring and evaluation team leader.
An AIDS activist, who requested anonymity, said the campaign was a welcome step, but noted that Ethiopia still suffered from stigma as a major hindrance to testing.
"It's not enough just to offer free testing, more needs to be done on discrimination - at the moment people will think if you go to get tested you have the disease," he said. "Also, the message does not give details about where you can go to get tested."
Ethiopia has an HIV prevalence of 2.1 percent; an estimated 2.3 million people test for HIV every year in more than 1,000 testing centres countrywide.
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