Over 142, 000 people in Ghana living with Human Immunodeficiency Virus Infection and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) do not know their status due to the fear of stigmatisation if their positive status becomes public.
Also, more than 46, 000 Ghanaians living with HIV/AIDS are not on the lifesaving Antiretroviral drugs and those who are receiving treatment are reluctant to visit their physicians.
This was contained in the national and subnational estimate projections of the Ghana Aids Commission’s (GAC) report in 2020.
In a presentation of the estimated report in Accra to journalists, Mr. Cosmos Ohene-Adjei, the Acting Director of the Commission, said people were refusing to test to know their status because of the stigma associated with people living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana.
He said this situation could lead to an increase in the number of people living with Aids in the country, adding that in 2019 alone Ghanaians living with Aids were 200, 068.
To reduce the number of infections to the barest minimum, he disclosed that the GAC has formulated the National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan which would become operational in 2021.
He said the plan aimed at ending HIV/AIDS as a public health problem by ensuring that 95 percent of all persons living with Aids would know their status, 95 percent of people who know their status would have access to antiretroviral drugs and 95 percent of people on antiretroviral drugs take their medication religiously to prolong their life.
Mr. Ohene-Adjei, therefore, called on the media to assist the GAC to intensify HIV/AIDS prevention education in Ghana to help reduce the number of infections.
Ishmael Batoma, ISD
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