National AIDS Resource Center (ARC)

Overview | Partners | Objectives | Unique Features | Impact | Future Plans

Overview

Ato Gashaw Mengistu, ARC Coordinator (left) and Ato Araya Demissie, JHU/PCS Ethiopia Country Representative

In 2001, an IEC gap analysis revealed that high-quality culturally appropriate HIV/AIDS materials have limited distribution in Ethiopia . Those materials that existed were frequently out of date and/or out of print. Generally, access to any HIV/AIDS information in Ethiopia is severely limited, especially for smaller, rural AIDS projects. The analysis also revealed a need for better coordination of HIV/AIDS behavior change communication activities to prevent duplication of resources.

To respond to this need, the AIDS Resource Center (ARC) in Addis Ababa was established through a multi-dimensional public/private partnership including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), CCP, the Constella Group LLC, and the Ethiopian Government's HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office's (HAPCO). In December 2002, the ARC was launched as the first center of its kind in Ethiopia to support HAPCO's activities and projects. With continued support from the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the ARC is now in its third year of operation and is expanding to regional sites. This expansion supports its mission to meet national and regional demands for HIV-related information.

The ARC has more than 20 staff who not only provide HIV/AIDS information in Ethiopia, but who also develop and produce high-quality messages and materials, conduct trainings, work with journalists to improve their reporting skills, run a national HIV/AIDS hotline, and provide high-tech IT support services.

For detailed information on the ARC please visit its website at www.etharc.org.

Partners

• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
• National HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (HAPCO)
• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs (CCP)
• Various international organizations and local NGOs

Objectives

• Provide Ethiopians with up to date and accurate HIV/AIDS and related information by developing and maintaining a materials clearinghouse on HIV/AIDS, VCT, STD and TB materials.
• Develop and maintain a materials and networking database and a website with international links and email list-servers.
• Oversee the development of high-quality Ethiopian print and audio-visual HIV/AIDS BCC materials that are useful to all program managers nationwide.
• Develop a strong relationship with the Ethiopian media by training print, radio, and television journalists and editors in HIV/AIDS reporting and serving as an ongoing source of information for these journalists.
• Establish and maintain an AIDS Hotline to ensure that Ethiopians have an additional resource to access free and anonymous HIV/AIDS information, counseling and referrals. Hotlines have proved to be an effective means for people to access free and anonymous HIV/AIDS information and referrals.
• Establish eleven regional AIDS Resource Center sites at regional HAPCO offices that will serve as information centers and be linked electronically to the main ARC in Addis Ababa .
• Encourage networking and coordination of HIV/AIDS stakeholders in Ethiopia .
• Provide technical assistance in BCC materials development and strategy formation.

Unique Features

• The ARC is the first clearinghouse of its kind in Ethiopia ; the ARC is a unique one-stop center for HIV/AIDS education.
• Incorporating a journalist training function into the broad implementation plan increases awareness of available ARC resources among the medical community and the general public.
• In addition to offering an assortment of print resources, the ARC provides high-speed access to Internet resources , enabling health professionals, students, and journalists to obtain a wealth of electronic HIV/AIDS research resources.
• Through the “Wegen” AIDS Talkline , Ethiopia 's newest HIV/AIDS hotline, the ARC provides HIV/AIDS related information and counseling services to callers from anywhere in Ethiopia . Users call the hotline number (952) to get accurate information on VCT, PMTCT, HIV transmission, ART and other HIV related issues. Since December 2004, the hotline has been receiving an average of 1800 calls a day.
• The ARC is extending its much needed HIV information services to the regions of Ethiopia . These centers provide regional users with up-to-date and accurate HIV/AIDS information and internet research services.

For additional information on current ARC activities, please visit www.etharc.org .

Impact

The ARC receives approximately 70 users per day. Most of the ARC users are students, NGO staff, medical practitioners, researchers, counselors and journalists. The majority of these users are between 26 to 30 years old. Some case examples of the ARC's impact are captured in the following feedback from two ARC clients:

Nazareth High School Anti-AIDS Club - The daughter of a HAPCO official heard about the center from her father. She brought a team of 5 girls from her school and they watched a video on HIV/AIDS that truly inspired the girls to start an anti-AIDS club at school. They obtained brochures and other promotional material from the ARC, which they distributed throughout the school. The brochures were kept in the school library to increase access to the material.

The club membership has now expanded to 30 girls with a similar number on the waiting list. The girls are in the process of organizing anti-AIDS campaigns that will involve the public schools, which have been hard, hit by the AIDS pandemic. The girls will get promotional material from the ARC, particularly t-shirts, badges and pens, which will be given out as prizes for quizzes in the anti-AIDS campaigns between schools.

HIV Positive Hotline User - A single man between the ages of 20 – 29 from Addis Ababa called wegen talkline on January 2005. The gentleman had been tested for HIV two years ago and found out that he was HIV positive. Since then the gentleman had adopted a positive lifestyle. Recently he met a lady friend who he has been spending quite some time with and was beginning to get emotionally attached. The day he called the gentleman had finally decided to inform his lady friend about how he feels about her and also of his HIV status. The gentleman was quite fearful about her reaction and potentially loosing the friendship that they had built through time. He was also unsure on how or where to initiate the conversation. By the end of the call the gentleman was feeling confident in raising the issue and disclosing his HIV status to her irregardless of her reaction.

For further information, please contact Jane Koehler at jkoehler@jhuccp.org.

Future Plans

• Establishment of six additional sites
• Expansion of the hotline
• Continuous search for and replenishment of materials for clearinghouses at the national and regional levels
• Continuous monitoring of hotline usage and visitor usage patterns in the ARC. Monitoring user activity will provide data to the ARC to aid its efforts to meet the research needs of users, refine communication/ promotion strategies, and improve the strategies to reach target audiences.

For more information on the AIDS Resource Center , please contact the AIDS Resource Center Coordinator, Gashaw Mengistu at arce@ethionet.et or visit the ARC website at www.etharc.org .