Accra, Nov. 25, GNA – Dr Kyeremeh Atuahene, the Director General, Ghana Aids Commission (GAC), has urged churches and mosques to promote HIV Self Testing.
He said that was the only way to take the campaign to communities towards ending HIV by 2030.
Dr Atuahene said this in a speech on his behalf at a health walk to herald the commemoration of this year’s World AIDS Day.
The exercise was tagged HIV Self Testing Health Walk and organised by Ghana HIV and AIDS Network (GHANET).
He said HIV “happens” in homes and urged all stakeholders to join the campaign to suppress the virus.
Dr Atuahene urged mothers to encourage all family members to use the self testing kits to know their status.
Dr Stephen Ayisi Addo, National Director, HIV Control Programme, said the Government had put measures in place to promote self testing and treatment and encouraged the populace to take advantage of the interventions, including self testing.
Mr Hector Sucilla, Country Director, UNAIDS, said HIV response was a social responsibility and urged communities to lead the campaign.
Mr Ernest Amoabeng Ortsin, President, GHANET, said the walk was to create awareness on HIV Self-Testing (HIVST) and had support from the Network of Persons living with HIV (NAP+), and other stakeholders.
In 1988 the UNAIDS designated the 1st of December as World AIDS Day (WAD) in remembrance of persons who had lost their lives to the then ravaging HIV and AIDS menace.
The Day is also to be used to create awareness about the pandemic and encourage people to protect and prevent themselves from getting infected.
The initiative was embraced by countries around the world and, since then, it has always been celebrated with both global and locally adapted themes.
This year, the theme for the WAD celebration is “Let Communities Lead” aimed at inspiring persons infected and most affected by HIV and AIDS to take up roles and initiatives that can help end the disease as a public health concern by 2030.
In July this year, the Minister for Health, Mr Kwaku Agyeman-Manu, officially launched HIVST in Ghana.
At the time of the launch, the only approved form of self-testing, as per the country’s guidelines, was the oral method.
However, with the support of Global Fund, the Ministry of Health (MoH), through the Ghana Health Service (GHS),has successfully piloted the use of Oraquick HIVST in about 50 districts.
Whilst the pilot was ongoing , other HIVST methods were evaluated by the National AIDS/STI Control Programme (NACP) to expand HIVST options in Ghana.
Following the success of the evaluations, the country has now revised its guidelines to include blood-based methods of HIVST.
This revision has opened a window of opportunity for companies such as Abbott to introduce its CheckNOW HIVST in the country, giving Ghanaians a variety of choices.
CheckNOW is a blood-based method of HIVST, which gives test results in just 15 minutes.
It is based on a 3rd generation HIVST technology, which detects HIV-1 and HIV-2 antibodies in a fingerstick blood sample.
The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) is optimistic that the multiplication of HIVST testing options will help the country to achieve the first 95 of the 95-95-95 UNAIDS targets.
Currently, only about 72 per cent of the estimated 354,000 persons living with HIV in Ghana know their status.
This means that about 100,000 PLHIV are not aware of their status and may be inadvertently spreading the virus.
GNA