Tema: HIV prevalence rate unstable

Tema: HIV prevalence rate unstable

Benjamin Xornam Glover, TEMA

The prevalence rate of HIV /AIDS in the Tema Metropolis has been fluctuating over the past five years.
Currently, the prevalence rate is 2.8 per cent compared to the Greater-Accra Regional prevalence rate of 2.7 per cent and the the national average of 1.3 per cent.
In 2009, the Metropolis recorded the highest prevalence rate of 4.0 percent and started showing a downward trend to 2.8 in 2010 and 2.2 percent in 2011 only to rise again to 3.6 percent in 2012
The Deputy Director of Nursing Services, Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate, Mrs Judith Amo-Mensah who disclosed this at an education forum for school children to mark this year's World AIDS Day celebration in the Metropolis at Batsonaa, said it was regrettable that the local prevalence rate keep fluctuating adding that the age group of affected persons range between 20 to 39 years who are in their reproductive period.
“The Metro Health Directorate is particularly worried about the issues concerning adolescents and HIV. There is the need to organise programmes to improve access to HIV prevention services especially at the community level,” she said
The forum was jointly put together by the Tema Metropolitan Assembly and the Health Directorate and the Ghana Education Service, to create awareness of the existence of the disease, among the children.
More women test positive for HIV
Mrs Amo-Mensah further disclosed that at as June 2014, more women have tested positive for HIV than men in the Tema Metropolis.

She said out of a total number of 1,445 females tested, 332 tested positive while 184 males out of 1,186 tested positive for HIV.

Mrs Amo-Mensah said of the total figure, 290 clients are receiving HIV care while a total of 223 have been placed on cotrimaxozole prophylaxis while of 169 clients were on Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART).

Measures
To curtail the spread she said the Metropolitan Health Directorate provides a package of cost effective interventions which includes scaling up counseling and testing sites, expanding prevention of Mother-to-child transmission coverage, establishing centres to provide comprehensive care for People living with HIV and AIDS, (PLWHIV), expanding the districts response initiatives in the care of PLWHIV as well as scaling up coverage of Home Based Care for PLWHIV.

She enumerated some challenges militating against efforts at curtailing spread of the disease. This includes inadequate facilities to accommodate the ever increasing clients, inadequate supply of test kits and other logistics as well as difficulty in collecting reports from the private sector.

The Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive,(MCE) Mr Isaac Odamtten, whose speech was read by Madam Matilda Mahamah, Director, Department of Social Welfare, tasked the youth not to indulge in indiscriminate sex in order to avoid contracting the virus especially as the yuletide approaches.

He said stigmatizing PLWHIV is not a good thing and must be stopped adding that PLWHIV should be afforded equal opportunities in the job market as their counterparts who are non reactive so that together “we can build a better Ghana”

The Metropolitan HIV/AIDS Focal Person, Mr Wilberforce Ofosu-Dankyi this year the celebration was focused on safe sex and stigma reduction because there are very important if they are to achieve the Metro HIV and AIDS response.
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