Outrageous.

The Ethiopian Ministry of Health (MoH) said on Wednesday that the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate has reached 5 %, among women and that the infection rate was on the rise.

The minister was speaking at the 42nd annual conference of the Ethiopian Medical Association, which was opened here on Wednesday.

"Ethiopian women are vulnerable to HIV infection due to their low socio-economic status on top of the biological factors. The national surveillance report estimates the HIV prevalence among women to be 5 %,"Worku said.

According to government statistics, close to two million people are currently living with the virus in Ethiopia, making the country one of the largest HIV- infected populations in the world.

But NGOs estimate over three million people to live with the virus in the country.

These numbers are staggering.