Health sector stakeholders have urged the government to activate the National HIV/AIDS Fund, established to aid the country’s fight against HIV/AIDS and achieve its goal of eliminating the disease by 2030.
The Fund, created under the Ghana AIDS Commission Act of 2016 (Act 938) and Legislative Instrument (LI 2403), was designed to generate domestic resources for the national HIV/AIDS response, addressing the decline in donor funding for HIV/AIDS activities.
Although the Fund was meant to be operationalized in 2017, it has yet to receive any financial allocation.
Speaking to the media following a health walk held to raise awareness for World AIDS Day 2024, Mr. Ernest Amoabeng Ortsin, President of the Ghana HIV and AIDS Network (GHANET), urged the government to prioritize funding for the National HIV/AIDS Fund.
He emphasized that with rising HIV infection rates and declining donor support in recent years, the need to operationalize the Fund has become critical.
According to the Ghana AIDS Commission, approximately 35,000 new HIV cases were recorded from January to September this year.
Additionally, over 12,000 deaths were attributed to the disease last year, and more than 250,000 individuals are currently undergoing treatment.
Mr. Ortsin called these statistics alarming, highlighting the urgent need for increased awareness efforts to reverse the trend.
“This means that HIV is still very much around, and we need to create awareness,” he said.
“We need government to actually support. We have a national HIV/AIDS Fund, but as we speak now, there is zero money in the fund, and it is not good. All the work we are doing is supported by the Global Fund, but one day, the Global Fund will fold up, and then what happens?”
“We have more than 250,000 people who are on treatment. So, if the government fund fails, what happens? We need to be able to get many medications for these people, and that is why the establishment of the National HIV and AIDS Fund is very important.
“We are calling on the government that we should ensure we establish the National HIV and raise funds and put in money so we’ll be able to buy medication for our people, we’ll be able to do prevention activities, so that by the 2030 global targets we’ll be able to eliminate HIV/AIDS in Ghana,” Mr. Ortsin added.
World AIDS Day is observed annually on December 1 to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS.
This year’s theme for World AIDS Day is “Take the Rights Path: End AIDS Now.”
Dr. Kyeremeh Attuahene, Director-General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, expressed concern that the country may not meet the United Nations’ 95-95-95 target for AIDS by 2025.
The UNAIDS 95-95 target aims for 95 percent of people living with HIV to be diagnosed, 95 percent of those diagnosed to receive antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 95 percent of those on ART to achieve viral suppression (VLS) by 2025.
Dr. Attuahene noted that, currently, 65 percent of people living with HIV in Ghana are aware of their status, 69 per cent of those diagnosed are on treatment, and 89 percent have achieved viral suppression.
“We are lagging behind because we don’t have the resources to enable every Ghanaian who needs treatment and every Ghanaian who needs testing to be able to get them,” he said, urging the government to allocate more finances to support the fight against the disease.
Dr. Stephen Ayisi Addo, Programme Manager of the National AIDS/STI Control Programme (NACP), acknowledged the considerable progress Ghana had made in combating HIV since the first case was reported in 1986.
However, he stressed that more efforts are needed to eliminate the epidemic.
He underscored the importance of citizens continuing to follow essential protocols, such as getting regular HIV tests to know their status, practicing abstinence, and using condoms, to help prevent further transmission of the virus.
“By 2030, we want to establish that HIV and AIDS are no longer of public health importance. So, know your status, get treatment, prevent HIV, stop stigma and discrimination, support somebody who is HIV positive and is on treatment, and do not be a source of stigma,” he urged.
