HIV prevalence up

GHANA’S estimated national HIV prevalence cases have risen from 1.7 per cent in 2008 to 1.9 per cent in 2009.
Increase in new cases among pregnant women who were tested at selected ante-natal clinics in the country, also shot from 2.2 per cent in 2008 to 2.9 per cent in 2009.
In 2009, there were an estimated 267,069 persons who lived with HIV and AIDS in Ghana. Out of the number 25,666 were children.
The year 2009 recorded 25,531 new infections and 20,313 AIDS deaths. Of the dead, 2,566 were children.
At a day’s workshop in Accra yesterday to disseminate the results of the 2009 HIV Sentinel Survey (HSS), the Deputy Minister of Health, Mr Robert Joseph Mettle-Nunoo, attributed the rise in prevalence to complacency and called for more efforts to keep the rate down.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we must stop being complacent. The more we reduce the prevalence, the more we must work hard to keep it low,” he said
Mr Mettle-Nunoo, however, said the results of the survey were a useful tool to observe trends, reinforce or increase the commitment to accelerate implementation and provide feedback to health workers, as well as local and international groups involved in AIDS prevention programmes.
The deputy minister said HIV and AIDS continued to be among the biggest challenges facing the country, adding that “over the years, as government, civil society, business and other sectors, we had launched individual and joint programmes aimed at responding to that challenge”.
He pointed out that there was the need for collaboration between health workers and academics, as well as researchers, as the country continued to find ways to respond to the challenge posed by the epidemic.
In view of the increase in HIV prevalence, the Programme Manager of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), Dr Nii Akwei Addo, said more efforts would be required by all stakeholders to keep the HIV prevalence on further decline else complacency would erode all progress made so far.
Among other things, Dr Addo said HIV sites in the year 2009 ranged from 0.7 per cent in North Tongu (rural) to 5.8 per cent in Koforidua and Agomenya (urban), adding that the rate of new infection recorded at Agomenya fortunately dropped further by 2.2 per cent.
On the national prevalence, he pointed out that “the highest prevalence was recorded within the age group of 40 to 44 years which stood at 4.0 per cent and the least which is 1.9 per cent was in the 15 to 19 year group. Prevalence among the youth 15 to 24 years, which is used as the marker for new infections, was 2.1 per cent”.
The programme manager stressed that the Central Region remained the region with the highest syphilis prevalence, adding that Asikuma Odoben Brakwa (rural) had the highest syphilis prevalence.
“Rural areas also continued to have higher syphilis prevalence than urban areas,” he pointed out.
The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service, Dr Elias Sory, who was the chairman for the function, commended the NACP for the annual survey, adding that it would help the health sector to plan, monitor and evaluate the national response to HIV and AIDS epidemic.
The HIV Sentinel Survey is a cross-sectional survey targeting pregnant women attending antenatal clinics (ANC) and selected ANC sites in Ghana. The annual HSS system was initiated based on the premise that prevalence of HIV among pregnant women is a good proxy for the spread of the infection among the populace.
In the last five years, the HSS data have been used as the primary data source for the national HIV and AIDS estimate in Ghana.