President Nana Akufo-Addo
President Nana Akufo-Addo on Tuesday inaugurated a 19-member newly constituted governing board to steer the affairs of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC).
But that was not without concerns about the prevalence rate and dwindling levels of support for the fight against the spread of the HIV/AIDS virus in the country.
Even though he said Ghana as a country has achieved a steady and gradual decline in the prevalence rate of HIV from 3.6 percent in 2003 to 1.6 percent in 2015, he, however, mentioned that “whereas the general population enjoys a low prevalence, there are sub-populations that have recorded very high levels.”
Concern
For instance, he revealed that “among female sex workers the prevalence is seven percent and for men who have sex with men, the prevalence is 17.5 percent.”
“These undoubtedly points to the need for us as a people to extend HIV prevention interventions to all segments of our population to ensure that no one is left behind,” he emphasized.
He, thus, expressed concern about the dwindling financial support for HIV/AIDS for which reason he said a national HIV/AIDS fund would be established to mobilise resources, especially from the private sector to provide reliable and adequate funding to the national response to the fight against HIV/AIDS.
President Nana Akufo-Addo said gone were the days when “to be infected with HIV was synonymous to be issued a death warrant and the term killer-disease was used to describe AIDS.”
Based on the advances in the frontiers of science and the immense efforts to address the epidemic, however, he explained that “it is now common knowledge that being HIV/AIDS positive is not a death sentence.”
For him, it was, therefore, refreshing that today “being infested with the virus does not mean progressing to AIDS”, a feat he attributed to the availability and easy accessibility to anti-retroviral drugs.
Instead, the president said, “Now people living with HIV can live healthy, long and productive lives.”
He mentioned that the commission was implementing the National Strategic Plan 2016-2020 which is in alignment with the global United Nations Joint Programme on AIDS, UNAIDS aspirational targets which require that by the year 2020, 90 percent of all people infected with HIV will know their HIV status, whilst 90 percent of all people diagnosed with HIV infection will receive sustained anti-retroviral therapy and 90 percent of people receiving anti-retroviral drugs therapy will be virally suppressed.
These targets, he indicated, are aimed at eliminating HIV/AIDS by 2030 in line with the third Sustainable Millennium Development Goal which talks of health and well-being for all at every stage of life.
The mandate of the commission which was established in 2000 as a supra-ministerial and multi-sectoral body which is under the chairmanship of the president is to provide support, guidance and leadership for the national response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
He was, therefore, confident that the diverse backgrounds and experiences of members of the governing board would enable them to deliver on the mandate of the commission.
Given the opportunity, Dr Mubarak Osei-Kwasi, a member of the board on behalf of his colleagues, thanked the government and people of Ghana for the opportunity given them to serve.
He, thus, pledged their commitment to live up to the mandate to help reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country.
Members
The members of the governing board are the Minister of Health, Kwaku Agyemang-Manu; Minister for Gender, Children and Social Protection, Otiko Afisa Djaba; Minister for Local Government and Rural Development, Hajia Alima Mahama; Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Dr Mokowaa Blay Adu-Gyamfi; Director General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Anthony Nsiah-Asare; Executive Director of the National Population Council, Dr Leticia A. Appiah, and the Government Statistician, Baah Wadieh.
Others are President of the Ghana HIV and AIDS Network (GHANET), Victor Attah Ntumi; President of the Network of Associations of Persons Living with HIV (NAP+), Emmanuel Beluzebr Suurkure; New Patriotic Party (NPP) Member of Parliament (MP) for the Atwima Kwanwoma, Dr Kojo Appiah-Kubi; National Democratic Congress (NDC) MP for the Wa Central, Dr Abdul-Rashid Pelpuo; a representative of Christian Groups, Rev Father Lazarus Anondee; a representative of Muslim Councils & Ahmadiyya Mission, Dr Mubarak Osei-Kwasi, and a representative of the National House of Chiefs, Kuoro Richard Babini Kanton.
The rest are a representative of Ghana Employers Association, Victoria Hajar, a representative of a labour organisation, Theresa Nadia Abugah, and two presidential appointees, Lucy B. Ofori Ayeh and Dr Daniel Oduro-Mensah.
By Charles Takyi-Boadu, Presidential Correspondent