By Emmanuel Nyatsikor, GNA
Ho, Aug. 12 GNA – Mr Samuel Yao Atidzah, the Executive Director of GOSANET Foundation, has said ending AIDS required more than medicines and test kits.
He said it also required strong communities, informed citizens, accessible service, human rights and a determined fight against stigma and discrimination.
Mr Atidzah said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency at Ho.
“If we are serious about ending AIDS as a public health threat, we must continue to take HIV information, prevention services and testing opportunities closer to the people, particularly communities and populations that face barriers to accessing conventional health services.
“We need to rethink how we deliver our HIV services,” he noted.
The Executive Director said instead of expecting everyone to travel to health facilities before receiving HIV information or testing support, community-based approaches could bring appropriate services closer to where people lived and worked.
He noted that Community-based approaches like HIV self-testing provided additional opportunities for people to test in a manner that could be convenient and private, whilst appropriate referral systems remained essential.
He stressed that HIV self-testing should never be viewed simply as the distribution of test kits but a successful intervention that required education, trust, confidentiality, referral, linkage and community support.
Mr Atidzah stated that people who knew their HIV status were empowered to make informed decisions about their health and future.
He said GOSANET Foundation has deliberately incorporated human rights education into HIV self-testing as it could not be separated from HIV prevention.
“Fisherfolks and other beneficiaries are educated about their dignity, privacy, confidentiality, non-discrimination, access to accurate health information and access to appropriate health services,” he disclosed.
Mr Atidzah stated that fear of stigma and discrimination discouraged people from testing, disclosing their status to appropriate persons, seeking treatment or accessing prevention services.
He continued that HIV related stigma remained one of the barriers that communities should continue to address adding that a person’s HIV status should not be used as a reason to humiliate, isolate or be discriminated against.
“The fight against HIV cannot be won if people are afraid to seek testing because they fear what society will say about them,” he said.
Mr Atidzah intimated that during the first quarter of 2026, GOSANET Foundation distributed 800 HIV self-testing kits and 1,008 male condoms to targeted beneficiaries under the OVP intervention.
He said these figures demonstrated the practical support being provided to community level HIV prevention.
The Executive Director stated that as the country continued its HIV response, it should strengthen approaches that reached people who were underserved, expand access to HIV self-testing whilst strengthening confirmatory testing and linkage and fight stigma and discrimination.
He said it should also strengthen prevention among young people and vulnerable populations, community-to-referral systems and use reliable data to improve Programme implementation and accountability.
Mr Atidzah urged policymakers, development partners, civil society organizations and community leaders to continue investing in community-based HIV interventions and ensured that no vulnerable population was left behind.
“If you receive a reactive HIV self-test result, seek confirmatory testing and appropriate professional support and if you are living with HIV, remember that you deserve dignity, respect, treatment and support,” he advised.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/ GNA