Available research has proven that knowing your HIV status does not only decrease the risk of an infected person spreading the disease to others, but also offers the person the opportunity to seek early treatment.

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Consequently, the President of the Ghana HIV & AIDS Network

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(GHANET), Mr. Ernest Ortsin, is entreating the public to get tested for HIV in order to eradicate the disease from the country’s territory.

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The advice to the public follows recent data which indicates that there has been a surge in the number of people affected by HIV/ AIDS in the country. According to the National STIs and HIV/AIDS Control Programme, a total of 23,495 people tested positive for HIV in the first half of this year.

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He explained that this helps in achieving the UNAIDS’ 95-95-95 ambition, which seeks to diagnose 95% of all HIV-positive individuals, provide antiretroviral therapy (ART) for 95% of those diagnosed, and achieve viral suppression for 95% of those treated by 2030.

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USAIDS is the Joint-United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. It is an innovative joint venture of the United Nations family, which brings together the efforts and resources of 11 UN system organizations to unite the world against AIDS.

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Speaking at a workshop held at the Mensvic Hotel in Accra, Mr Ortsin further mentioned that one factor derailing the fight against HIV is fake antiretroviral drugs on the

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market.

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He, thus, advised Ghanaians to desist from the use of unapproved and fake medication, particularly herbal medicine labelled as a cure for HIV, since there is no proof that herbal medicine can cure the disease.

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“Even the anti-retroviral medication does not cure HIV/ AIDS, they only suppress the viral load, so there is no cure as of now for the disease. People should be bold to report when they get to know their HIV status for the right treatment to lead normal lives,” he added.

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About HIV

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HIV, an abbreviation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system. If not treated, HIV can lead to AIDS. It is a deadly disease that has resulted in the death of many.

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According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), the rate of infection, heightened since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with

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84.2 million [64.0–113.0 million] people infected and about 40.1 million [33.6–48.6 million] people dead from the disease. Additionally, 38.4 million [33.9–43.8million] people were living with HIV at the end of 2021 globally.

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Also, data from UNAIDS indicates that 1.5 million [1.1 million–2.0 million] people will become newly infected with HIV in 2021. It adds that 650 000 [510 000–860 000] people died from AIDS-related illnesses in 2021. 28.7 million people were accessing antiretroviral therapy in 2021.

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In efforts to curtail the spread of the disease, there have been various initiatives and sensitization programmes introduced globally to help combat the disease.

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This includes the use of medicines to treat HIV, using medicines to prevent HIV, using condoms, having only low-risk sex, only having partners with the same HIV status, and not having sex can all effectively reduce risk. On how Ghana can significantly reduce the rate of spread, Mr Ortsin called for public education on a new therapy, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PreP) and other treatment processes.

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