Koforidua, Oct. 19, GNA – The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has called for targeted prevention and treatment interventions in the Eastern Region, which has Ghana’s second-highest adult HIV prevalence rate of 1.83 per cent.
The region has an estimated 42,704 people living with HIV and recorded 1,659 new infections in 2025.
Lower Manya Krobo has the country’s highest district-level prevalence rate of 5.08 per cent, while Upper Manya Krobo and New Juaben South recorded 3.71 per cent and 3.02 per cent, respectively.
Mr Dramani Yakubu, Eastern Regional Technical Coordinator of the GAC, presented the figures at a meeting of the Eastern Regional AIDS Committee in Koforidua.
He said the figures required more resources for high-burden communities, wider HIV testing and improved access to treatment.
Nationally, an estimated 337,435 people were living with HIV in 2025, with 13,951 new infections and 12,051 AIDS-related deaths.
Women accounted for about 66 per cent of people living with HIV, while adolescents aged 10 to 19 recorded 1,183 new infections.
Mr Yakubu noted that new infections declined from 16,189 in 2024 to 13,951 in 2025, but greater efforts were needed to sustain the progress.
He said 70 per cent of people living with HIV knew their status. Of that number, 81 per cent were receiving treatment, with 92 per cent achieving viral suppression.
Mr Yakubu urged stakeholders to expand testing, link people diagnosed with HIV to treatment and help patients remain on medication.
He also warned against false claims of HIV cures, saying they could cause patients to abandon treatment.
Mrs Rita Akosua Adjei Awatey, Eastern Regional Minister, called for stronger coordination among institutions to tackle the region’s HIV burden.
In a speech read on her behalf by Mr Ebenezer Amoah, Chief Director of the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council, the minister said prevention, testing, treatment adherence, stigma reduction and protection of the rights of people living with HIV should remain priorities.
She urged stakeholders to focus on young people, women, girls and high-burden communities.
Mrs Awatey asked the Regional AIDS Committee to coordinate interventions and integrate HIV programmes into development plans across the region’s 33 metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.
Mrs Gifty Addo Tetebo, Eastern Regional HIV/AIDS/STI Coordinator of the Ghana Health Service, expressed concern about increasing infections among adolescents and declining attendance at treatment clinics.
“The statistics presented…show that when we talk about high-burden regions, the Eastern Region is one,” she told the Ghana News Agency.
“When we talk about new infections, we are there. When we talk about adult HIV prevalence, we are also there.”
The meeting, organised by the Eastern Regional Coordinating Council and the Ghana AIDS Commission, brought together regional officials, civil society groups and institutional leaders to review 2025 HIV data, address implementation gaps and plan targeted interventions.
New committee members were sworn into office to oversee the regional response and strengthen cooperation among institutions working to end AIDS as a public health threat.
GNA
Edited by Kenneth Odeng Adade
Reporter: D.I. Laary
Email: [email protected]