Impact of AIDS on the economy and health care services in Ethiopia

Abstract

Background
Acquired immuno deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has been spreading at an alarming rate in Ethiopia after the first AIDS case in the country was reported in the mid-1980s. At the end of 1993, it was estimated that there were half a million people with AIDS and this number is expected to grow to more than five million by the year 2005 (1). It is obvious that the disease, unless effectively controlled, will result in a large number of illness and death of mostly the young. Its effect on the health care service system, which is inadequate to handle the traditional health problems, could not be negligible. The health status of Ethiopians, without the complications of AIDS, is very low as indicated by all health status indictors. The most important health status indicator, infant mortality rate, stands at 112 per 1000 live births. Only 27 percent of the people in 1994/95 had access to safe water. Life expectancy at birth stands at only 49 years. Maternal mortality rate per 100000 live births stood at 1525 in the period between 1989 and 1995. Prevalence rate of under-five malnu-trition was 47 percent, which is among the highest even in Africa (2).