The Ghana AIDS Commission has emphasised its quest to end AIDS by 2030 in Ghana calls for an effective multi-sectorial collaborative effort to achieve the target.
This was disclosed by the Technical Manager of the commission, Fred Nana Poku in an interview with Alfred Ocansey on 3FM Sunrise Morning Show as Ghana joins the rest of the world to mark the World AIDS Day under the global theme “Equalized” and the national theme “20 Years of Multi-Sectoral HIV Response; Accelerating Progress to End AIDS”.
Nana Poku said “This is very critical because we want to ensure that by 2030 Ghana will be in the position to end AIDS which is the devastating effect of HIV. We have to end AIDS before ending HIV because it is just the infection but AIDS is the consequences of having HIV in your blood and not taking medication, hence deteriorating in health status so we say by 2030 we will end AIDS and work towards not having HIV infection in Ghana.”
He revealed that the female are vulnerable in sex negotiations hence the highest HIV AIDS prevalence rate among the female population. The 2021 statistics on new HIV infections show that about eighty three percent (83%) of the new cases of HIV AIDS in adolescents are females.
According to him structural barriers and impediments such as; the anatomical structure of females, socio-economic dispositions, and power play in negotiating for sex make them vulnerable to HIV AIDS, as such must be addressed.
“In our culture, they don’t develop that ability to negotiate so they involved in transactional sex without using protection and they are not well endowed when it comes to economic factors hence some of them get themselves involved in all sort of risky behavoiur in order to survive and live” Nana Poku explained.
The Technical Manager of the Ghana AIDS Commission stressed the need for the ministries of; Employment, National Security, Agriculture, Gender & Social Protection, Local Government, Finance & Health to team up with various stakeholders in the fight to end AIDS in Ghana.
He admonished people to practice safe sex through abstinence, be faithful, and use condoms in order not get infected.
Nana Poku also encouraged people to get tested to know their HIV status, and the careers to take their medications seriously.
The theme of AIDS Day 2022 “Equalize” implies that everyone should unite in fighting the inequalities that stop people from getting the life-saving health care and support they need.
By Samuel Afriyie Owusu|3news.com|Ghana
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