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A Concerted Approach to
Fighting HIV/AIDS
In December 1999, Eritrea
was considered a low priority for HIV support. This began
to change when a REDSO/ESA representative explained to senior
officials that the situation in Eritrea was like that in Uganda
before the epidemic exploded there. Troops were mobilized
and shared the same commercial sex workers, spreading HIV
among them rapidly. When the Ugandan troops were demobilized,
they took HIV home with them to all parts of the country.
Realizing that actions during the next two years would determine
whether Eritrea would manage to keep HIV prevalence relatively
low or not, USAID joined forces with other U.S. government
agencies and UN organizations for a concerted effort to mobilize
support for HIV prevention and care.
During the last year, USAID and Global Bureau
cooperating agencies have helped the Ministry of Health (MOH)
to design many new programs including behavior change communications,
care and support for people living with AIDS, voluntary counseling
and testing, and expansion of the HIV prevention condom social
marketing program. The U.S. Embassy hosted a lunch on HIV
for business and labor leaders. The public diplomacy office
sponsored three international visitor programs focused on
HIV to the U.S., as well as numerous Africa Journal programs,
discussion groups, and a teleconference for students and journalists
in Eritrea. The Africa Bureau's Office of Sustainable Development
sent a specialist to reinforce MOH efforts to involve religious
leaders in the HIV/AIDS fight and added Eritrea to the countries
represented at the December 2000 White House Summit of Religious
Leaders on HIV/AIDS. USAID, UNICEF, and UNAIDS jointly sponsored
an Ambassadors of Hope Mission through which Ugandan HIV activists
met with thousands of Eritreans, from cabinet ministers to
front line troops, to convince them of the threat of HIV.
The result is a new, multi-sectoral commitment
to fighting HIV, which is evident in many ways. The Chamber
of Commerce organized an AIDS Walk in January 2001 led by
the minister of defense, other cabinet ministers, and religious
leaders. Once determined to avoid debt, Eritrea has signed
a $40 million credit agreement with the World Bank to control
HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. This project was launched
by President Isaias, who spoke to the nation for the first
time about the threat of HIV. This concerted effort has made
it possible to prepare programs needed to prevent the spread
of HIV during demobilization and create a compassionate environment
for people living with AIDS. It is still a race against time,
but one in which all players are now on the same team.
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Sustainable Development under
Challenging Conditions
From 1996 to 1997, USAID/Eritrea provided
technical assistance, training, and computers to help the
Eritrean Ministry of Health (MOH) establish its first health
information system. This USAID support ended in 1998 when
the Global BASICS contract ended, and the first of three conflict-related
evacuations kept the mission from putting new assistance in
place. Nonetheless, the MOH continued to implement the system,
achieving 100 percent reporting from health facilities in
1998 and producing a comprehensive annual report in 1999.
Building on this foundation, the MOH and USAID
are developing a new plan to increase the frequency of reporting,
make charts and graphs easily available to users, and provide
feedback to reporting units at all levels. This effort will
fully exploit the data for targeting services and policy development,
and use the data network as a medium for continuing education.
The findings on the sustainability of USAID's
health information system efforts in Eritrea are similar to
those reported last year for the pharmaceutical logistics
system. The ability of Eritrea to pursue developmental programs
in the midst of conflict, massive population displacement,
and drought is due primarily to intense national commitment,
reinforced with an approach to development assistance designed
to enhance self-reliance.
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Emergency Recovery Credit Scheme
In 2000, the occupation of large parts of
southern and western Eritrea by Ethiopian forces resulted
in severe damage to businesses. USAID/Eritrea and its Eritrean
partners decided to allocate $US5 million within the Enterprise
Investment Fund for a fast-disbursing emergency credit facility
available to entrepreneurs in Gash Barka and Debub who had
lost their businesses as a result of the war. The main criteria
were: 1) being a known entrepreneur in the community; 2) having
sustained damage or a loss of a business; 3) expressing an
interest in rebuilding the same business; and 4) accepting
a commercial loan from the Commercial Bank of Eritrea (CBER)
at the lowest interest rate available at the CBER.
Between August 25, 2000 and January 31, 2001,
215 loans were made for a total of $3.6 million (72 percent
of the allocated amount). Following is a sample of comments
from borrowers regarding the appropriateness of the emergency
credit program:
Ms. Ghenet Yohannes owns a grocery store in
Barentu. She is a young mother whose husband is still in the
army. In August 2000, she borrowed food items from wholesalers
to restart her business. With an emergency loan of $15,000
in local currency, Ms. Yohannes was able to repay the wholesalers
and return to running her business on a cash basis. Her shop
is well stocked, with inventory in the adjacent storeroom.
She emphasized that the emergency loan was well timed and
effective in providing critical funding to restart a small
business.
Mr. Mohamed Jime is a CBER client who owns
the most prominent snack bar in Barentu. He obtained an emergency
loan of $15,000, which he used for working capital to purchase
a refrigerator, furniture, and kitchen items to restart his
business in August 2000. Mr. Jime stated "I started from
zero. What you see today was all purchased with the loan.
That opportunity came at the time when we were at a loss about
what to do. The snack bar is doing well because of our longstanding
goodwill in the community."
Mr. Estifanos Tesfamariam owns a small metal
shop in Barentu. He used a loan of $10,000 in early January
2001 for working capital and to replace fixed assets. Mr.
Tesfamariam is currently producing school furniture under
a contract with the Ministry of Education. He said "The
loan permitted me to restart my old business after losing
everything, including my household items. The interest rate
is reasonable." His major concern is whether the peace
will hold.
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Connecting Eritrean Villages to
the Global Village
With significant USAID assistance, the Internet
has made major changes in Eritrea less than five months since
its launch in November 2000. Though the total number of subscribers
is currently only estimated at 1,500 for four internet service
providers (ISPs), but business is booming at the four cyber-cafes
in Asmara, and overall demand is so great that USAID has already
completed a new design for a bandwidth upgrade.
The texture of life and communications is
changing as students, professors, and journalists routinely
surf the Internet for news and research purposes and use their
Internet based e-mail accounts to communicate freely with
friends and family, colleagues, and peers. Eritrean businesses
are also quickly taking advantage of e-commerce opportunities.
For example, Eriflora.com is a popular website used by the
Eritrean diaspora to order flower deliveries all over the
world. This business is owned by a demobilized female soldier,
an example of information technology's power as an effective
gender equalizer.
The Internet is also opening up the political
process; new draft laws on elections and political parties
are posted on Eritrean websites for comment. This would have
been inconceivable less than six months ago.
With the hook-up of ISP branch offices in
Mendefera, Dekemhare, Keren, and Massawa in April, three more
of Eritrea's six regions will be covered, for a total of four.
Once these secondary cities are connected, the next phase
of USAID's project will begin, including planning for the
establishment of telecenters in Eritrean villages. State-of-the
art communications will clearly be critical to Eritrea's economic
recovery and political development. USAID, complemented by
the Public Diplomacy Office's efforts, will continue to make
key investments in this field consistent with the policy reforms
needed to ensure a private-sector led industry.
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