By Francis Ameyibor
Harare (Zimbabwe), Dec. 12, GNA – The 22nd International Conference on Aids and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA) has ended in Harare, Zimbabwe, after days of deliberation on issues relating to prevention of HIV, infections, recognition of minority rights, and sharing of national experiences.
Dr. Pagwesese David Parirenyatwa, President, the Society for AIDS in Africa (SAA), the main organiser of the conference, said ICASA 2023 created the opportunity for the diverse nature of the African region’s HIV epidemic to be discussed and strategies to move forward.
Speaking at the closing session at the weekend, Dr. Parirenyatwa explained that the biennial International AIDS Conference also created a platform for all individuals, governments, and communities working in the field of health to discuss the issues and draw lessons from others.
He said it also assisted global and national leaders, people living with HIV, private sector partners, and others committed to ending the epidemic and strengthening the health systems in Africa to strengthen their advocacy strategies.
Dr. Parirenyatwa explained that it presented a tremendous opportunity for researchers and clinicians worldwide to share the latest scientific advances, learn from one another’s experiences and expertise, and develop strategies for advancing all facets of the global collective efforts to end AIDS across Africa and around the world by 2030.
The Society for AIDS in Africa, the organisers of ICASA, is working in collaboration with its international and local partners to ensure ICASA will be an important opportunity to share the benefits of collaborations and partnerships with all countries across Africa.
Speaking on “monitoring and use of data to improve differentiated HIV testing services in Ghana,” Dr. Stephen Ayisi Addo, National AIDS/STI Control Programme (NACP) Programme Manager, explained that Ghana adopted syphilis testing among antenatal clients towards triple elimination.
He said low syphilis testing coverage was a challenge; therefore, the syphilis-HIV duo kit was introduced and commenced in 2018 after stakeholder engagement.
He said the programme undertook test kit assessment and selection, policy formulation and algorithm development, capacity building for Health Care Workers and a national rollout in 2020.
On challenges identified after the rollout, Dr. Ayisi Addo noted that in some instances, the kits used among the non-pregnant population affected data for forecasting and quantification.
Other challenges included monitoring linkage to treatment and prevention and the burden of reporting for paper-based registers, among others.
NACP Programme Manager noted that key lessons learned included integrated monitoring in “RMNCH” for dual testing, streamlined reporting, and reduced reporting time, as well as reduced overall quantification and procurement costs by at least 16 percent.
He said re-testing register deployment reduced duplicate reporting from repeat testing.
Dr. Ayisi-Addo, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Harare, Zimbabwe, stressed that Ghana had upscaled enhanced strategies aimed at empowering the population to prevent new HIV infections and ensuring the availability of and accessibility of prevention, treatment, care, and support services.
The strategies were also geared towards mitigating the social and economic effects of HIV on persons infected and affected by HIV and subsequently ensuring the availability of adequate funding to execute the policy strategies.
He said the programme was determined to continue implementing key policies geared towards accelerating the progress towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.
Dr. Ayisi-Addo said 2022 data indicated that Ghana was progressing at 72-87-68, stressing that it was the goal of the NACP to achieve epidemic control and fast-track targets of 95-95-95 by 2025 as a means of accelerating the global target to end the epidemic by 2030.
The 95-95-95 targets which were launched globally by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) aim at diagnosing 95 percent of all HIV-positive persons, putting at least 95 percent of those diagnosed on antiretroviral therapy (ART), and achieving viral suppression for 95 percent of those on treatment by 2025.
“There was also the provision of timely pre-exposure and post-exposure prophylaxis to key populations and persons exposed to HIV,” he said.
Dr. Ayisi-Addo noted that NACP has also initiated the implementation of HIV self-testing and the effective integration of HIV services to ensure universal health coverage.
He indicated that these targets and commitments in Ghana’s HIV Strategy, which were in line with those of the Global Strategy when achieved, would ensure that the number of people who newly acquired HIV would decrease from 1.7 million in 2019 to less than 370, 000 by 2025, and the number of people dying from AIDS-related illnesses would also decrease from 690,000 in 2019 to less than 250,000 in 2025.
GNA