HIV Ambassador Debacle: Why blame Dzidzor instead of AIDS C’ssion? – Law Prof

A professor of law is wondering why former HIV/AIDS Ambassador, Joyce Dzidzor Mensah–who has come out to say she never tested positive for the disease, despite years of claiming she did–is being torn apart by critics, whom, in his view, should rather be blaming the Ghana AIDS Commission, for failing to independently ascertain the test result before engaging her as an Ambassador.

“Why is everyone blaming this woman instead of the Ghana Aids Commission?” Prof H Kwasi Prempeh asked in a post on his Facebook page.

“So the Aids Commission, a public agency, enters into some agreement with this lady to have her serve as HIV Ambassador in the Commission's HIV/AIDS campaign, for some fee, I presume, and takes her word for a fact that she is HIV-positive.

“If being HIV positive is a condition precedent to her engagement as a HIV Ambassador by the Aids Commission, why did the Commission not have her claim of being HIV independently verified by a test? Or was this some sort of "sole sourcing" by the Aids Commission?” the former Director of Legal Policy and Governance at the Ghana Centre for Democratic Development (CDD) wondered.

Prof Prempeh said: “A government agency that allows itself to be conned this easily is simply facilitating corruption for its own purposes.”

The AIDS Commission, in a statement issued Monday insisted Dzidzor Mensah tested positive in 2007.

“There is evidence to support her initial claim of being HIV positive since 2007, and she has been benefitting from antiretroviral therapy from health facilities in Accra,” the Commission said.

It added that evidence of the HIV status of all its Ambassadors “was documented at the various health centres they accessed treatment.”

“Additionally, they were all registered members of NAP Ghana, the Network of Persons Living with HIV. These individuals were extensively engaged by legal, psycho-social and communication consultants prior to their going public. Joyce has been a member of NAP since 2007,” the statement noted.