Almost 24,000 new HIV AIDS cases were recorded in Ghana in the first 6 months of this year while more women are seriously reporting and taking their anti-Retroviral medications than men, a report sighted by MyNewsGh.com has revealed.
This was revealed in a stakeholder workshop by network of institutions working on HIV AIDS in Ghana dubbed the Ghana HIV&AIDS Network (GHANET), a non-profit organisation leading HIV interventions in the country.
Out of 262,042 HIV patients who are on anti-retroviral, 75% were revealed to be women while 5% are children with the rest being men.
An official of the National AIDS Control Programme NACP, Rev. Kenneth Ayeh Danso 2021 estimated data put the number of people living with HIV in Ghana at 345,599 people but as of June 2022, only 262,042 people were on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) with women constituting more than 70%.
While it could be easily misconstrued that more women are infected and seeking treatment than men, the statistics rather show more men with the infection are not stepping forward to receive treatment as women are doing.
“The statistics are an indication that men are not reporting, a situation that needs to be reversed for us to reach the 95-95-95 goals,” Rev. Ayeh Danso said.
The good news is that out of the number taking their ART seriously, 79% had reached the non-detectable stage, which means they cannot transmit the virus to others although it may still be in their system.
Overall, the prevalence of the disease is higher in men who had sex with men, with a prevalence rate of 18 percent; in female sex workers, with a prevalence of 4.6 percent.
So in summary, 75% of the 262,042 HIV patients on Anti-retroviral are women and but overall 79% are now undetectable while 23,495 New HIV Cases were Recorded in 6 Months.
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