By Linda Naa Deide Aryeetey, GNA
Rio de Janeiro, July 31, GNA – Ghana must substantially increase domestic investment in HIV programmes and double annual HIV testing to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has said.
An investment case developed by the Commission indicates that the target is technically achievable if annual HIV spending increases from about US$200 million to US$257 million by 2030 and the number of people tested each year rises from about two million to more than four million.
Mr John Eliasu Mahama, Acting Director of Policy and Planning at the GAC, disclosed this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of the 26th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
He said expanding HIV testing would enable earlier diagnosis and prompt initiation of treatment, while sustained investment would strengthen prevention, treatment and care services required to achieve the global 2030 target.
“The modelling shows that ending AIDS as a public health threat is achievable, the real question is whether we will have the political will, the financial resources and the commitment to implement what we already know works,” he said.
Mr Mahama said Ghana’s latest National AIDS Spending Assessment estimated annual expenditure on the HIV response at between US$125 million and US$130 million in 2022, including infrastructure and health workforce costs, highlighting a significant financing gap.
He said HIV prevention and treatment programmes remained heavily dependent on external support, particularly for medicines and prevention commodities.
“When you look at the actual commodities for prevention and treatment, more than 90 per cent of prevention spending still comes from development partners,” he said.
Mr Mahama said although Ghana had not experienced the level of disruption seen in some African countries following recent reductions in United States funding, some interventions had been affected.
He said Ghana had previously received about US$14.75 million annually under the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), while the Global Fund continued to provide between US$30 million and US$35 million each year, making it the country’s largest external financier of HIV programmes.
“The impact has not been as severe in Ghana as in some countries because the Global Fund support remains largely intact, nevertheless, some programmes in the Western, Western North and Ahafo Regions that were supported by PEPFAR have been affected,” he said.
Mr Mahama said the Commission’s HIV Response Sustainability Roadmap proposed measures to reduce dependence on donor funding, including integrating HIV clinical services into the National Health Insurance Scheme, using allocations from the District Assemblies Common Fund to support community HIV prevention activities and promoting local production of HIV medicines and other commodities.
He said expanding pharmaceutical manufacturing within Ghana and the West African sub-region would strengthen supply security, reduce procurement costs and improve the long-term sustainability of the national HIV response.
Mr Mahama also called on the private sector to play a greater role in financing the HIV response through corporate social responsibility initiatives and strategic partnerships.
“The science has delivered, we have effective prevention tools, treatment and evidence on what works, what remains is the political commitment and sustained investment to ensure these innovations reach everyone who needs them,” he said.
Mr Mahama urged Government, development partners and the private sector to sustain collaboration to protect gains made over the past decades and accelerate efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030 despite the changing global financing landscape.
The discussions at AIDS 2026 underscored growing concern over declining international health financing and highlighted domestic resource mobilisation, stronger health systems and equitable access to prevention and treatment as essential to sustaining progress against HIV.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Sackey
31 July 2026
PIX ATTACHED
Reporter Linda Naa Deide Aryeetey
Email: [email protected]