By Linda Naa Deide Aryeetey
Accra, Nov. 2, GNA – Mr Ernest Amoabeng Ortsin, President of the Ghana HIV and AIDS Network (GHANET), has appealed to the government to activate the National HIV and AIDS fund in the 2023 budget.
Speaking at the launch of the 2022 World AIDS Day and the 20th anniversary celebration of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), he said the activation of the Fund, which was enacted into law in 2016 following the amendment of the Ghana AIDS Commission Act 938, had delayed.
“According to the Act, the only person who can activate the Fund is the Finance Minister, Mr. Ken Ofori-Atta, and I urge him to unfailingly activate the Fund in the 2023 budget,” he said.
Mr Amoabeng said Ghana needed the National HIV and AIDS Fund to preserve the lives of the over 250,000 Ghanaians made up of 20,000 children currently surviving on life-saving Anti-Retroviral (ART) drugs.
He said the Fund was urgently needed as funding from the Global Fund, the major donor supporting Ghana’s interventions against HIV and AIDS, was dwindling.
“As a country, we need to take our destiny into our own hands, and that is why GHANET and all Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Health are calling on the President and the Minister of Finance to activate the Fund,” Mr Ortsin stressed.
He congratulated the Ghana AIDS Commission on its 20th anniversary celebration and wished Ghana a successful 2022 World AIDS Day Celebration.
Mr Kyeremeh Atuahene, Director General of GAC, said high-risk behaviour such as unprotected anal and vaginal sex with HIV positive partners was leading to the rise in new HIV infections, averaging 21,000 cases annually in the last five years.
He said the new infections continued to occur in high numbers among adolescent girls and young women as they accounted for 20 per cent of new HIV infections in 2021.
Statistics indicate that a total of 23,495 people tested positive for HIV in the first half of this year.
The Director General said despite efforts at strengthening coordination in the fight against the disease, Ghanaians had become overly complacent with HIV.
He said while high risk behaviours had become overly pervasive in the Ghanaian society, HIV prevention protocols were least respected at the individual level.
“We need to arrest this situation by ensuring that every individual takes up the responsibility of protecting themselves from HIV by reducing sexual partners, correct and consistent use of condoms and testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases,” he said.
Dr Kyeremeh Atuahene said AIDS response was at a crucial period as the world battled COVID-19 amidst economic crises and called for support from all.
He said challenges like high level of stigma and discrimination against Persons Living with HIV, those at risk and inadequate funding continued to hold Ghana back from achieving the right scheme of infection prevention, treatment, care, and support services that were necessary to end AIDS.
“Now is the time for all of us to join forces to pursue the HIV elimination agenda,” he said.
Dr Kwaku Afriyie, Minister for Environment Science and Technology, who spoke on behalf of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo- Addo, said stigma and discrimination against persons living with HIV remained a major hindrance to national response
He called on all to commit to working harder and acting faster to achieve set targets.
The Ghana AIDS Commission has since its establishment in 2002 spearheaded the use of evidence-informed participatory approaches to policymaking.
The theme for the celebration is: “Twenty years of Multi-Sectoral Response to HIV and AIDS in Ghana accelerating progress to end AIDS”.
The World AIDS Day instituted in 1988 presents an opportunity for the world to unite in the fight against HIV and show support for people living with HIV.
This year’s celebration is on the theme: “Equalize: A call to action, a forceful appeal to government, civil society, private sector and individuals to work together to remove all forms of inequalities that perpetuates the spread of the HIV epidemic”.
GNA