HIV amongst female sex worker declines to 4.6 percent in 2020 – Presidential Advisor

The Presidential Advisor on HIV and AIDS, Dr Mokowa Blay Adu-Gyamfi has said statistics on HIV amongst female sex workers have slowed to 4.6 per cent in 2020.

According to her, the 2020 HIV prevalence among this category of workers has seen a decrease compared to the 2011 figure of 11.1 percent, graphic.com.gh reports.

Speaking at the launch of World AIDS Day in Accra on Tuesday, Dr Blay Adu-Gyamfi acknowledged a decline in the infection rate of sex workers, but the pace of decline among the general population had been quite slow.

This she believes makes it necessary for the country to up its game to address the challenges confronting the national response.

The Director-General of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Dr Patrick Kuma-Aboagye, has also indicated that, despite a decline in HIV prevalence, new infections of approximately 20,000 continue to occur in the country each year.

The GHS boss said with a current national adult prevalence of 1.7 per cent, Ghana had witnessed a decline in HIV prevalence from 3.6 per cent in 2004 to 2.0 per cent in 2019, indicating that although there had been some progress, the disease was still formidable in the country.

“An estimated 342,307 of the approximately 38 million people estimated to be living with HIV worldwide are in Ghana, and 153,901 of the 25.4 million had access to treatment as of the end of 2019”, he noted.

On his part as the Director-General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Kyeremeh Atuahene, said this year’s celebration was unique, as it marked the end of the National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan 2016-2020.

He indicated that with a renewed commitment from stakeholders ending AIDS by 2030 is feasible.

“All Ghanaians are called upon to help reduce new HIV infections by each one of us taking responsibility for self-protection at all times. We should also support Persons Living with HIV to take their anti-retroviral drugs religiously to attain viral suppression and reduce AIDS-related deaths,” he added.