[ad_1]
From In September 2018, Ghana had detected 48% of HIV-exposed infants, 5% of whom were HIV-positive.
This implies a rate of HIV transmission from mother to child of 5% in the country, said Thursday Dr Gloria Quansah Asare, Deputy Director General of Ghana Health Service (GHS).
She said this at the launch of the "Free to Shine" campaign, an initiative of First Lady Rebecca Akufo-Addo, which aims to eliminate the transmission of HIV from mother to child in Ghana.
Dr. Quansah Asare said that it was necessary for all stakeholders to engage in efforts to prevent mother-to-child transmission in order to save Ghanaian children.
It revealed that in 2018, nearly 1.7 million HIV tests were performed in Ghana, with women accounting for 80% of cases.
Nearly half of the women tested were pregnant women (864,266), of which 1.6% (13,802) were HIV positive.
Dr. Quansah Asare said that about 86 percent (11,820) of HIV-positive pregnant women had received Anti-retroviral Therapy (ART) to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
"We also tested nearly 500,000 pregnant women for syphilis with 2.8% (13,636) of the positive cases identified and 96% (13,098) of the positive cases treated," she said.
She called on all those involved in the fight against HIV and AIDS to work together to ensure that every HIV-positive mother is diagnosed quickly and put on antiretrovirals for life to prevent transmission to the next generation.
Dr Quansah Asare added that it was also necessary to identify and screen every HIV-exposed infant so that HIV-positive people can be placed on antiretroviral drugs to keep them alive "so that we can have a happy family." ".
She added that the syphilis test could be done at the same time as the HIV test and called on pregnant women to do both tests together to protect the next generation.
The government, through the GHS, was building the capacity of health care workers to provide quality HIV care throughout the health care delivery system.
The national AIDS program was also decentralizing the provision of antiretroviral therapy so that every pregnant woman who is pregnant can get antiretroviral treatment at the time of diagnosis without being referred to another institution.
The Assistant DG advised all women who wish to become pregnant to take the test and know their HIV status before conception, while each man should be screened so as not to infect the virus of their unborn children. They were HIV positive.
My Kyeremeh Atuahene, Acting Executive Director of the Ghana AIDS Commission, said that with the nearly 1,160,000 pregnancies expected in 2017, 28% of pregnant women missed the opportunity to undergo a test. screening and 33% of them need the opportunity to receive treatment.
Therefore, he emphasized the need for all stakeholders to support the Free-to-Shine campaign to eliminate mother-to-child HIV transmission in Ghana.
The Free to Shine campaign, a continental initiative of OAFLA (Organization of African First Ladies Against HIV and AIDS), the African Union and UNAIDS, has proved useful in supporting and accelerating elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV in the country. country.
He has the theme; "Prevention of mother-to-child transmission: the key to a generation without HIV and maternal survival", was launched in Ghana in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission.
Consistent with this theme, the campaign aims to reach zero HIV infections in children by 2020, end AIDS in children by 2030 and keep infected mothers alive and healthy.
The First Lady said the "Free to Shine" campaign would strengthen efforts and stop HIV and AIDS among Ghana's children in the next two years.
[ad_2]
Source link
