Journalists urged to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS | General news

The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), has trained health journalists in the Central Region on the reporting of HIV and AIDS. GAC urged journalists to use their media to educate people accurately, reduce stigma, and encourage behavioral change.

Speaking at the training, Kyeremeh Atuahene, acting director general of the Ghana AIDS Commission, said stigma made it difficult for people to check their status.

He added that HIV does not have a cure, but that there is a scientifically proven treatment to suppress the virus, which is the antiretroviral (ARV) that acts if taken with diligence. However, as of December 2018, only 113,000 of the 335,000 people living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral therapy. This low use of antiretroviral therapy is due to the fact that many people diagnosed deny having the virus or are unaware of the treatment. This, according to him, calls for a capacity building of the media to ensure frequent education to inform people.

"I encourage you all to use your reach and influence to give people the information they need to protect themselves from HIV, to educate them about what to do if they get infected with the virus and help reduce the risk of HIV." stigma and discrimination, "Atuahene urged.

In his presentation on the HIV situation in the Central Region, Dr. John Oto, Director of Health in the Cape Coast Metropolitan Area, reported that the central region, which has about 3 million inhabitants, has more than 26 000 people living with HIV, including about 9,000 men and 17,000 women. . However, the health service provided antiretroviral therapy to only about 68.2% of those people living with HIV.

He stressed that the media still have a lot of work to do to raise awareness and educate the population in order to realize the National Strategic Plan to fight against HIV and AIDS (2016-2020), in order to put an end to the AIDS of here 2030 and achieve the "90-90-90 Accelerated Target by 2020. In explaining the strategy, Dr. Oto said that by 2020, 90% of all people living with HIV should know their status, 90% of people diagnosed with HIV infection should receive continuous antiretroviral therapy. and 90% of people on antiretroviral therapy will have viral suppression.

Participants expressed their gratitude to the GAC and UNDP and noted that the training had allowed them to broaden their knowledge and enable them to raise awareness about the importance of early detection of the virus. They also badured the organizers that, in the future, more education will be adapted to help reduce HIV-related stigma and discrimination in order to encourage the use of HIV-related services. HIV.

"We will do a lot of education and advocacy on our airwaves from now on. The knowledge gained will also help us in our reporting to change the perception of people living with HIV, "said Jennifer Rashida Yoke, Cape Coast's Benyiwa radio station.

The training brought together 36 participants from print, broadcast and online media, who were encouraged to report accurately on HIV and AIDS.