The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is a country situated in the Horn of Africa that has been landlocked since the independence of its northern neighbor Eritrea in 1993. Apart from Eritrea to the north, Ethiopia is bordered by Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Djibouti to the northeast, and Somalia to the east. Ethiopia's population is 76.5 millions (July 2007 estimate); the male/female ratio is 0.995. The birth rate is estimated at 37.39 births and the mortality rate at 14.67 per 1,000 people; the country population growth rate at 2.27%. The life expectancy is 49.23 years (48.06 years for males and 50.44 years for females). The total fertility rate is 5.1 children born per woman, and infant mortality rate is 50.44 deaths/1,000 live births.

The prevalence of HIV/AIDS in adult population was estimated to be 4.4% (2003), with 1.5 million people believed to be living with HIV/AIDS and 120,000 people have died in the pandemic. There were about 125, 000 children living with HIV/AIDS (2005). There were about 280,000-870,000 children living with HIV/AIDS (2006) and 38,000- 130,000 orphaned by AIDS.