Dignitaries in a group photo after the 2024 World AIDS Day commemoration
The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO), Ministry of Health, and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has observed the 2024 World AIDS Day to raise awareness, educate people about HIV-AIDS, reduce stigma and promote action to prevent HIV-AIDS.
The global theme for this year’s celebration, “Take the right path”, highlights the crucial role human rights protection plays in advancing the HIV response, and Ghana’s selected theme, “Ending AIDS together: Stepping up prevention effort”, underscores the importance of unity and collective action in the response to HIV and AIDS.
Director General of GAC, Dr. Steve Kyeremeh Atuahene, stated that, the commission has made appreciable progress in the national response. “We have sustained a low HIV Prevalence which is currently at 1.5% and also increased access to life-saving prevention, treatment, care and support services throughout the country,” he said.
But despite the progress made, the epidemic curve remains high, showing a very low rate of decline in both new HIV infections and AIDS death, he revealed.
“This situation is principally attributed to low uptake of HIV services, particularly, an estimation of 35% Ghanaians living with HIV have not tested and do not know their HIV status, while 55% of them are also not on anti-retroviral treatment,” he stated.
The HIV anti-retroviral medicines, he said, play crucial role by preventing disease progression and also suppressing the viral load to an undetectable level and thereby, preventing HIV transmission.
Giving a speech on behalf of the President Nana Akufo-Addo, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Osei Kyei Mensah-Bonsu, said ending AIDS requires a comprehensive approach that addresses the challenges of gender-based violence, harmful practices like child marriage and the silence surrounding these issues in many communities.
“I know we have challenges, especially with delays in claiming donated health commodities and meeting financial obligations, but I want to assure you that the government has taken decisive steps to resolve these issues,” he stated.
Ending AIDS, he said, is not only about policies, but creating a society where no one feels left behind, every person living with HIV has access to treatment, and discrimination is a thing of the past.
By Janet Odei Amponsah