There is still no HIV cure in Ghana - Commission

The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has said there is still no known cure or vaccine for HIV and AIDS in the country currently.

The Commission has, therefore, advised persons living with HIV (PLHIV) to stick strictly to the Anti-Retroviral medicines to help their bodies’ suppress the virus so they could live healthy lives.

Dr Mokowa Blay Adu-Gyamfi, the Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, who refuted the claims of herbal cure for HIV at a media briefing in Accra, said the claims should be ignored.

She told PLHIV that; “If you think herbal medicines are good for you, have them as supplements like you take vitamins. Please tell everybody who is living with the virus never to neglect taking the antiretroviral medication in addition to the therapy.”

The briefing was held at the end of a two-day Annual Strategic Planning Meeting of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), and it aimed at charting the way forward in the fight of HIV epidemic for 2018.

It was attended by regional, district and national officers of the Commission, and chaired by Dr Adu-Gyamfi.

Dr Adu-Gyamfi said the strategic objectives of GAC for 2018 were to ensure the availability of funding for all relevant HIV programmes and review and formulate policies towards epidemic control.

She said currently there were enough antiretroviral drugs in the country, including pediatric medication, emphasising that “GAC is not short of medication”.

She said the Commission, however, had challenges with funding, which would enable it to carry out it education, counselling and testing activities, among others.

A Ghana AIDS Fund would be launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in May, this year, to encourage private entities and businesses to contribute into it, against the backdrop of donor fatigue.