Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), Dr. Kyereme Atuahene, has emphasized the urgent need to address the funding gaps in the treatment of HIV and AIDS in the country.
Over the past two decades, donor funding for the HIV and AIDS response in Ghana has decreased from 75% to 33%, leaving significant funding gaps that need to be filled domestically. Dr. Atuahene highlighted the importance of filling these gaps to ensure that the progress made in HIV and AIDS treatment is not reversed. He made these remarks during the media launch of the 2023 World AIDS Day, which will be commemorated on December 1, 2023, under the theme "Let Communities Lead."
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Ghana introduced antiretroviral therapy (ART) for the treatment of HIV and AIDS twenty years ago, which has saved the lives of thousands of Ghanaians. The number of individuals on ART has increased from 9,790 in 2020 to 13,539 in 2022. However, Dr. Atuahene warned that Ghana is at risk of losing the benefits of scientific advancements in ART if funding for drugs continues to rely solely on donors. In response to this need, the government established a national HIV and AIDS fund to provide adequate funding for the HIV response. The Ghana AIDS Commission has launched a resource mobilization campaign to encourage individuals and corporate Ghana to donate to the fund.
Dr. Leticia Adelaid Appiah, Executive Director of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), emphasized that HIV and AIDS remain a global health concern that affects millions of individuals worldwide. She highlighted the importance of a whole societal approach to HIV response and called on everyone to play their role in empowering communities with information, knowledge, expertise, and resources to make decisions that benefit them and society as a whole.
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Dr. Kweku Afriyie, Executive Oversight Minister of the Ghana AIDS Commission and Minister for Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, acknowledged that Ghana is lagging behind in achieving the United Nations' 95-95-95 treatment target by 2025 and ending AIDS by 2030. He recognized stigma and discrimination as barriers to addressing HIV and AIDS effectively and stated that the government is working to address these issues. Dr. Afriyie emphasized that ending HIV/AIDS is possible if communities are empowered with the right resources and support.
Mrs. Linda Asante-Agyei, Vice President of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), stressed the importance of empowering the media with accurate information to help communities achieve their targets. She expressed the media's commitment to supporting the Ghana AIDS Commission and other stakeholders in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
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Overall, the launch of the 2023 World AIDS Day in Ghana highlighted the need to address funding gaps in HIV and AIDS treatment, empower communities, combat stigma and discrimination, and work towards achieving global targets for ending AIDS.
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