RESEARCH ARTICLE The Missed HIV-Positive Children of Ethiopia

Objective As elsewhere, due to scarcity of data and limited awareness of HIV infection, especially in older children, the HIV epidemic among Ethiopian children appears neglected in national programs (children ART coverage is of only 12 % in 2013). This paper estimates the country burden of HIV in older children and investigates the prevalence of HIV in orphans and vul-nerable children (OVC) households. Design/Methods We analyzed national HIV data for Ethiopia, using Spectrum / Estimation and Projection Package (EPP) and primary data on children living in households with at least one HIV-posi-tive adult in the Amhara and Tigrai regions. Descriptive analysis of the age and sex distribu-tion of HIV-positive OVC in Ethiopia was performed. Results Our Spectrum/EPP analysis estimated the population of HIV-positive children under 15 years old to be 160,000 in 2013. The majority of children (81•6%) were aged five t