Ethiopia recently launched a policy that provides a framework for addressing HIV/AIDS in the workplace, the Daily Monitor/AllAfrica.com reports. According to the Monitor/AllAfrica.com, the policy was developed during a three-year project, called "HIV and AIDS Workplace Policy Project for NGOs in Ethiopia," which was hosted by the Jerusalem Children and Community Development under the slogan Stop AIDS Now!, or SAN!

The campaign emphasizes building the capacities of more than 35 local and international nongovernmental organizations in the country to create, implement and manage the impact of HIV/AIDS workplace policies. The campaign also addresses the high rate of new HIV cases projected for 2008, projections that the majority of cases will occur among people ages 15 to 45 and the virus' effect on Ethiopia's working population. Speaking at the launch of the project on Saturday, Dereje Alemayehu, steering committee member of SAN! Ethiopia, said the campaign was designed to address the realization by organizations in the country that a response to HIV/AIDS is needed in the workplace. He added that the project will address some of the major difficulties that organizations in Ethiopia face by providing support to implement the policies. The project also aims to increase awareness and knowledge of how to effectively address the disease in the workplace by using various tools and techniques, Alemayehu said. According to the Monitor/AllAfrica.com, SAN! has implemented similar workplace policies in India and Uganda (Tesfaye, Daily Monitor/AllAfrica.com, 4/2).