Be part of the ‘Know Your HIV Status Campaign’

Article: Salome Donkor
Comments and reactions by some people to issues relating to HIV and AIDS tend to show that they have rather become fatigued with stories on the global pandemic. There are times when people feel reports on the pandemic have become sterile.
To such people, the same story relating to education on the prevention of HIV and AIDS that highlights basic information about the A, B and C (Abstinence, Be faithful and use a Condom) of HIV and AIDS has been told over and over again.
Contrary to that perception, interactions by a group of journalists with persons living with HIV (PLHIV) during a three-day writing clinic organised by the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) in Koforidua recently showed that a lot more stories needed to be heard on the epidemic in the country.
The story was told of a young woman who met a would-be partner who had travelled from Europe into the country to get married to her.
The would-be couple took a bold decision and decided to check their HIV status. Before they could go to collect the results of the test, they engaged in unprotected sex and the results proved that the man was positive, while the woman was negative.
Since she had been exposed to the virus through unprotected sex, the woman immediately made her problem known to doctors who put her on anti-retroviral therapy for one month.
Subsequent tests on the woman showed that she had not been infected with the virus.
She was lucky.
There was the pathetic story of another woman whose marriage broke up and after staying single for some years, met a man who married her.
She and her new husband did not go for HIV anti-body test to know their status and three years after their marriage, the man died, while their one-year-old baby fell seriously ill.
Tests conducted on the child showed that she had been infected with HIV. Based on the results, the woman also went for the test and the results proved positive.
One women also described the trauma she went through as a result of stigmatisation by members of her community and close family members. She said because of her HIV positive status that became known to the people following the death of her husband, no hairdresser is prepared to do her hair, as a result of which she wears a wig.
These stories narrated by the PLHIV, provided a compelling description of the context of HIV transmission in Ghana, the extent of fear, misconception, myths and stigmatisation against persons infected and affected with the virus.
These pose a great challenge to the national response to HIV and AIDS with reference to counselling and testing services. These challenges also create gaps in the attainment of universal access target, which is defined as being as close as possible to providing sustainable and quality HIV services that will lead to prevention, as well as offering counselling and support and access to care for all in need by 2010.
In spite of the fact that the annual rate of infection had reduced from 3.6 per cent in 2003 to 1.7 per cent in 2008, HIV is still a problem in Ghana, considering the fact that currently there are an estimated 240,802 HIV positive cases in Ghana, as against 236,151 in 2008.
Majority of the infections in the country, nearly 90 per cent, are within the age group of 15-49 years, with 58 per cent of infected people being women and girls.
Less than 10 per cent of Ghanaians know their HIV status and the aim of this year’s World AIDS Day, which fell on December 1, is to embark on activities that encourage people to buy into the ‘Know Your HIV Status campaign’ being undertaken nation-wide by the Ministry of Health, while emphasising human rights issues which impact on HIV and AIDS.
Currently, heterosexual sex remains the predominant mode of transmission, accounting for 75-80 per cent of all infections. Mother-to-child transmission and transmission through blood and blood products account for 15 per cent and five per cent, respectively.
Other consequences of the burden of the epidemic can be seen in the number of AIDS orphans and adult deaths in the population. In 2000, it was estimated that AIDS accounted for about 12 per cent of all deaths in Ghana, while about 140,000 children had been orphaned as a result of AIDS.
Except for the screening of donated blood and patients with symptoms suggestive of AIDS, routine testing for HIV and AIDS shall not be carried out and testing shall not be done without the knowledge of the subject.
Stigma and discrimination have greatly affected the response to HIV and AIDS. This is because while only 10 per cent of the global population knew their HIV status, in Ghana, it was eight per cent.
This means that a lot more people do not know their status and are likely to be living with the virus but will not know they have it, while a number of those who know their status and are in need of anti-retroviral treatment have refused to go for treatment because of the fear of stigmatisation and discrimination.
Records indicate that about 70,000 people infected with the virus need ARV, but because the knowledge gap is depreciating, resulting in stigmatisation and discrimination and consequent misinformation on transmission and misconception that tend to relate the spread of the virus to superstition, promiscuity and other factors, such people resort to spiritualists for support, while others take herbal concoctions that worsen their conditions.
One important submission made by the Director of Technical Services of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), Dr Richard Amenyah, in his presentation and subsequent explanation to issues, was quite revealing and convincing.
He said there was the need for every individual to know his or her HIV status and keep it. This means that people who are now entering marital relationships will know the status of their would-be partners, while those in casual relationships and do not know the status of their partners will make efforts to check their status and practise safe sex.
People who also participate in social activities and strike new acquaintances that could make them engage in unprotected sex need to be wary of the epidemic and appreciate the fact that such behaviour puts them at risk of contracting the virus.
Ghana’s goal is to prevent new HIV infections, as well as mitigate the socio-economic and psychological effects of HIV and AIDS on individuals, communities and the nation. The first national strategic plan focused on five themes: Prevention of new infections; care and support for people living with HIV and AIDS; the creation of an enabling environment for a national response; decentralisation of implementation of HIV and AIDS activities through institutional arrangements; research and monitoring and evaluation of programmes.
The second national strategic plan, currently in process, focuses on: Policy, advocacy and enabling environment; co-ordination and management of the decentralised response; mitigating the economic, socio-cultural and legal impacts; prevention and behaviour change communication; treatment, care and support; research and surveillance and monitoring and evaluation.
This require increased resources, working towards the elimination of stigmatisation, enhanced access to affordable medicines, a reduction in vulnerability of persons affected by HIV and AIDS, particularly orphans, children infected with the virus and the aged.
There is the need to deal with low risk perception, especially among the youth, due to misconception and lack of adequate in-depth knowledge about HIV through the dissemination of information to reduce high risk behaviour and personal risk exposures, stigma reduction, increasing ART therapy to help PLHIVs manage the disease and prolong their life span.
There is the need to utilise HIV prevention services and promote safer sexual practices in the general population, especially among young men and women aged 15-49.