Goal To increase awareness and prevent HIV infection among the Ethiopian community.

Overview The community of immigrants from Ethiopia, numbering around 80,000, is facing many difficulties in its integration process, especially in the fields of education, employment and health. Most of the preventive health programs initiated by the government have been limited in success, since they were developed without the involvement of the Ethiopian community or consideration for its unique culture, tradition and language.

In 2000 the Coalition of Ethiopian Immigrants Organizations initiated an education program to prevent the spread of AIDS among the Ethiopian community, and a grass-roots organization named Betha Israel was selected to implement it. While Betha Israel’s main focus is awareness and prevention, they are unique in that they approach the subject matter in a way that respects the cultural norms of their community. Their instructors speak in Amharic, providing their audience with the basic concepts in human physiology and biology necessary in order to understand the issues directly related to HIV, its spread and its prevention. This program started in Ashdod, in cooperation with the AIDS Center (“Neve Or”) at the Kaplan Hospital, expanded to Rehovot and Jerusalem, but was unable to reach new locations due to lack of funding.

The Ministry of Health and Betha Israel have since developed a joint program, being implemented at the current pilot stage in five locations: Ramla/Lod, Netanya, Hadera, Afula and Be'er Sheva. The JDC-Brookdale Institute is involved in evaluating this program.

Sacta-Rashi's Involvement Partnership liaison Program development Operating costs

Partners Ministry of Health Jewish Agency for Israel