Govt to set up special fund for HIV/AIDS (Back Page)

THE Government of Ghana is planning to establish a special fund for HIV and AIDS activities in the country.
This is to ensure continuous flow of resources to enable the country to achieve the desired impact without always relying on external support.
This was made known by the Presidential Advisor on Social and Development Issues, Professor Francis Dodoo, at a two-day partnership forum organised by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) in Accra yesterday.
It was part of activities for the next phase of the implementation of the Multi-sector HIV and AIDS Programme (MSHAP) with the objective of bringing development partners and other stakeholders together to work and agree on the 2010 annual programme of work (APOW).
Present at the forum were the Director-General of the GAC, Dr Angela El-Adas, some health personnel, security agents and public sector officials involved in issues of HIV and AIDS.
In an interview after the opening ceremony, Prof Dodoo said the government was currently looking at the form the fund would take but pointed out that it would be established by next year.
He said the government was committed to supporting the GAC to achieve the targets set under the Abuja Declaration, which dealt with universal access of HIV and AIDS services.
For his part, the Programme Manager of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), Dr Nii Akwei Addo, pointed out that although HIV prevalence in Ghana had stabilised for some time now, that did not call for celebration, since there was the possibility of moving backwards.
The country rate of HIV infection is currently 1.7 per cent.
He stated that out of the targeted 40,000 people in advanced stage of HIV infection who needed to be provided with anti-retroviral therapy, 31,401 had been covered as of September 2009, saying the country was working hard to achieve its objectives.
Dr Addo also touched on the high incidence of syphilis in the Central Region over the years, saying that the situation must be looked at critically.
Speaking on behalf of the development partners, the Country Co-ordinator of the United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) in Ghana, Dr Leo Zekeng, said the country had made some progress towards the attainment of the universal access targets, notably in the areas of comprehensive service provision, mobilisation of financial resources, greater involvement of people living with HIV and AIDS, as well as mobilisation and evaluation.
He said by June 2009 counselling and testing was available in 524 sites nation-wide, adding that a consistent and focused “know your status” campaign was running concurrently to promote the availability of HIV and AIDS services.
The Director of Technical Services of the GAC, Dr Richard Amenyah, said under the set goals of the national strategic framework for 2006-2010, the GAC was working to reduce new HIV infections among vulnerable groups and the general public, mitigate the impact of the disease, promote healthy lifestyles, among other interventions.
He gave the assurance that the GAC and the other stakeholders would work harder in the months ahead to get as closer as possible to the set targets.