ETHIOPIA: Dutch to redirect Ethiopia AIDS funding

The recent withdrawal of funds by the Dutch government could force the Ethiopian-Netherlands AIDS Research Project (ENARP) to shut down.

The Dutch ministry for development cooperation said ENARP was "too focused on its own research agenda rather than tackling the situation at hand

The ministry said it had elected instead to focus on poverty reduction, family planning and HIV prevention in Ethiopia.

The Dutch ministry's Beate Gerlings told the UN news service PlusNews: "We felt there were better ways of spending our money to combat poverty in Ethiopia, rather than supporting this programme."

Gerlings said dozens of scientists had been trained in tackling HIV/AIDS since the US $13 million ENARP launch in 1994.

Theme (s): Care/Treatment - PlusNews, Children,

[This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]