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World AIDS Day 2018 was launched in Accra with a call for citizens to know their HIV status and to be able to make informed choices that will help Ghana reach the 90-90 goal. -90.
Achieving the 90-90-90 goal will also ensure that the country achieves the ultimate goal of ending AIDS by 2030 in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals. The 90-90-90 target was set in 2014 as part of a joint program of UNAIDS on HIV and AIDS and its partners to help end the HIV / AIDS epidemic. AIDS.
It is an ambitious therapeutic goal that aims to diagnose 90% of HIV-positive people, provide antiretroviral therapy to 90% of people diagnosed and remove the virus for 90% of people treated by 2020.
In Ghana, about two percent of the population is living with HIV, while 98 percent of people living without the disease are unaware of their status. This leads to an increase in new HIV infections with the country recording 19,101 new infections in 2017.
The 2017 Sentinel Survey of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) also shows an increase in the number of new infections among the youth population from 1.1% in 2016 to 1.5%. The number of registered cases has also increased by 70%, from 12,000 in 2016 to 20,148 in 2017, while the disease has lost more than 15,000 lives.
The general theme of World AIDS Day 2018, which is celebrated on December 1 of each year, is "Know your status," while the national theme is "Test, treat, remove, and stop new infections."
The national holiday durbar would be observed in Ho in the Volta region with other regional celebrations across the country. Mr Kyeremeh Attuahene, Acting Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, said at the launch Thursday that the number of new HIV infections in 2017 was high, despite efforts to implement the National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan. (2016-2020).
He added that there was still work to be done "If we want to achieve 90-90-90 goals. Today, we are called to rejuvenate the "Know Your Status" campaign, as infected people who did not know their status were likely to cause new infections.
"Therefore, informing people of their status is the most important way to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves." Mr. Attuahene announced interactive sessions with religious leaders and a public lecture on "Sociocultural Perspective of HIV Prevention, Treatment and Care" and a Thanksgiving Service.
There would also be activities and media interventions to raise public awareness of the need to test one's status and prevent new infections. Ms. Cecilia Abena Dapaah, Minister of Sanitation and Water Resources, who also provides executive oversight of the GAC, said the availability of antiretroviral therapy should prompt all those who did not know their HIV status to get tested and get the help you need.
She said the government would continue to invest in health, especially HIV and AIDS, despite dwindling donor support. She called on the private sector to partner with the government to invest more in the sector to ensure that goals are met in communities and in the country in general.
Ms. Dapaah urged the media and other religious organizations to join the government in promoting a national response to the epidemic, which had claimed even more lives. She announced that stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS is now criminalized under the new GAC ACT 2016 (ACT 938), which would be a crime for anyone .
Ms. Linda Asante-Agyei, Vice President of the Ghana Association of Journalists, raised the theme: "Achieving Treatment Targets 90-90-90 by 2020 – The Role of the Media", stated that a constant commitment was needed. with the media to inform them about the epidemic, especially about the 90-90-90 target.
She added that some media staff should also be identified by the Commission as ambassadors so they can get the message out through their media.
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