According to the Ghana AIDS Commission, over 30% of people living with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) postpone treatment owing to a lack of cash.
This, according to the Commission’s Director General, Dr. Kyeremeh Atuahene, is because the Commission is sometimes unable to give patients free antiretroviral medications.
According to him, the Commission has an annual financial imbalance of around 89 million dollars, requiring patients to pay for their own care.
Dr. Atuahene expressed concern about the issue during an interview on JoyNews’ AM SHOW on Thursday, October 18.
“Some facilities have decided to charge people living with HIV for some of the services. For example, laboratory services and that is costing them a lot. Out-of-pocket payment relating to HIV treatment by persons living with HIV in Ghana in 2021, went up to $32 million. Now this is very worrying because it is supposed to be free,” he lamented.
Prior to this development, the AIDS Commission regretted the rising number of HIV-positive females in the nation as a result of unprotected sex.
The Commission’s Director General expressed alarm about the large number of women who are currently participating in unprotected sex with several partners.
According to him, this is contributing to the increased number of HIV-positive women and the spread of the infection.
According to Dr Atuahene, women are biologically vulnerable to HIV and other illnesses, and it is thus “the responsibility of women and their partners to ensure women’s protection.”
The guys, on the other hand, insist on having unprotected intercourse.
“When you go out there, you will see young people even some at the tender age of 10 solicit from the internet. So, you hook up where a young lady will go to a client at an agreed place,” he added.
Furthermore, the Ghana Aids Commission indicated that over 100,000 Ghanaians are HIV carriers.
HIV carriers, according to Dr. Kyeremeh Atuahene, are uninformed of their status and are spreading it.
He stated that the Commission has launched an active search for the over 100,000 HIV-positive people in order to get them into treatment.
