Assemblies cautioned against misuse of HIV and AIDS share of Common Fund

Story: Benjamin Xornam Glover, Bolgatanga The Upper East Regional HIV and AIDS Co-ordinator of the Ghana Health Service, Mr. Samuel Angyogdem has cautioned Municipal and District Assemblies against misuse of District Assembly Common fund allocated for HIV activities. He noted that while some assemblies in the region have kept faith with the release of the 0.5 per cent for HIV and AIDS activities, other districts have remain silent and this he said was hampering roll out of programmes to Prevent Mother-to-Child Transmission (PMTCT). He mentioned the Builsa district, the Kassena Nankana East and Kassena Nankana West District, Talensi and Nabdam Districts as the defaulting districts. Mr. Angyogdem gave the caution at Bolgatanga when he addressed the opening of a three-day media training programme on HIV and AIDS. It was organised by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) in collaboration with the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), with the aim to galvanize support, whip up and sustain interest to the national HIV response particularly on human rights, stigma and discrimination among most at risk populations. He noted that lapses witnessed in the disbursement of the 0.5 per cent of the common fund for HIV activities in these districts was hampering any meaningful roll out of PMTCT trainings and other HIV related activities. He therefore urged the defaulting assemblies to mend their ways and ensure timely release of funds if HIV and AIDS activities are to succeed. Giving a trend analysis of PMTCT in the region, Mr. Angyogdem said out of the 17,048 Anti Natal Care Registrants recorded between January to June 2012, 16,370 were Tested and received post-test counselling. Of the figure, 160 tested Positive out of which 129 are given antiretroviral drug He attributed the good PMTCT uptake to easy to reach population, high saturation of trained counselors from over the years, integration of PMTCT services into rreproductive and child health services , regular monitoring and support as well as trainings initiated by some districts assemblies notably Bolgatanga, Bawku, Garu-Tempane and Bongo, with support from Ministries Departments and Agencies. Mr. Angyogdem, therefore, stressed the need for advocacy and education of the populace by the media for district assemblies who are silent on the disbursement of funds for PMTCT activities to live up to expectation and help meet set targets. Touching on plans increasing access to antiretroviral treatment,(ART), he said nine ART sites in the region has been established while key stakeholders and owner of Private health facilities have been engaged in a dialogue to explore the possibility of rolling out ART services. Again, he said to addressed the problem of stigma, persons living with HIV have been deployed as models of hope to offer counseling in communities. He added his office was also liaising with the World Food Programme for food support activities to persons living with HIV and their dependants in order to make life comfortable. Dr Richard Amenyah, Director (Technical Services) of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Ghana is fully committed to ensuring the elimination of mother –to-child transmission of HIV by 2015 and task the media to allocate more space and time to the dissemination of messages to help achieve that target. “I believe that no Ghanaian with HIV should die because treatment is available. People must put aside fear and stigma and seek early treatment and the media must help in this direction”, he said. The Vice President of the Ghana Journalists Association, Mr Affail Monney, who spoke on the topic: "The Role of the Media in the Response to HIV," called on journalists to go beyond the norm and evolve creative stories and story angles to support the national response to AIDS.