'Mother to child transmission of HIV should be eliminated'

Dr Naa Ashiley Vanderpuye, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the West Africa AIDS Foundation (WAAF), has reiterated the need for Ghana to totally eliminate mother to child transmission of HIV.

She stated that “as Ghana’s future leaders, children are very important and we must ensure that no child is born infected with HIV. This means Ghana needs to move from Preventing Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT) to Eliminating Mother To Child Transmission (EMTCT)”.

Dr Naa Ashiley Vanderpuye made this statement while speaking on the theme “Fast Track- Meeting the Health Needs of Children Towards HIV-Free Generation” for the World AIDS Day which was celebrated on December 1, 2015 worldwide.

“The 2015 World AIDS Day’s theme is indeed a very appropriate theme considering that children and adolescents remain extremely important to a Nation. However many may not be aware of the fact that children continue to be an ever-growing part of the HIV epidemic.

In 2013, an estimated 34,557 children were living with HIV in Ghana, with an estimated 2500 new infections among them whilst an estimated 2,248 children died from HIV”, Dr Vanderpuye said.

She emphasized that if a child should unfortunately still be born HIV positive, the child should be able to receive comprehensive treatment to ensure no spread of HIV in order to reach an HIV free generation.

“Ghana has made great strides but there is room for improvement and if we all join forces, we will be able to do it and ensure Ghana just like many other countries around the world can soon celebrate as HIV is booted out forever”, she addressed.

West Africa AIDS Foundation commemorated the World AIDS Day celebration with education on HIV and AIDS related issues, distribution of condoms and other materials, Testing and Counselling activity among others in Sunyani in the Eastern Region and Boi-Town in the Ga-East District.