PEPFAR support programme reaches more people

It is the largest financial commitment by any nation to combat a single disease internationally.

The plan which became operational in Ghana five years ago had assisted the country with $78 million in the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS.

Speaking at a roundtable for media personnel to highlight the achievements of PEPFAR over the last decade, the Health Director at the USAID office in Accra Laurel Fain, said in 2012 alone, PEPFAR programmes connected over 108,000 individuals to assist them with the skills they needed to protect themselves from HIV.

Besides, a total of 11 million condoms have been distributed in Ghana through PEPFAR support.

The assistance has ensured an improved care and support for people living with HIV and reduced the spread of the disease.

Currently, the HIV prevalence rate among adults in Ghana has stabilised at 1.5 per cent from 2.7 per cent in 2005, according to the Ghana AIDS Commission.

Indicators point to a further decline in the figure in the coming years.

Since it was instituted, PEPFAR had made strides in life saving Anti Retroviral Treatments for nearly 5.1 million people worldwide. Additionally, it had supported testing and counseling for more than 49 million people, including 11 million pregnant women, and treating 750,000 of those women to prevent the mother-to-child transmission of HIV and allowed 250,000 infants to be born HIV-free;

It is also the largest donor of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, which has directly funded the Government of Ghana’s AIDS response since 2002.

According to her, PEPFAR projects in Ghana had increased the use of HIV testing, counseling, screening and treatment for other sexually transmitted diseases, by educating target populations and by improving the quality of services provided in Ghana and stressed that more people were now willing and able to access them.

“PEPFAR in Ghana directly supported HIV counseling and testing for more than 86,000 people in 2012. PEPFAR supports people living with HIV today in Ghana, to empower them to take care of themselves, to help each other seek treatment, and to bring the message of prevention to others. It also supported 32,000 PLHIV” she added.

It also supports PLHIV to work in the clinics as advocates and advisors for their brothers and sisters who have recently tested HIV-positive and are seeking treatment.

The US government through PEPFAR is currently assisting 15 key laboratory centres in the country to meet international standards.

These include the laboratories in all 10 regional hospitals and the three teaching hospitals in Accra, Kumasi and Tamale.

The government has however been asked to take steps to provide administrative support to the hospitals to enhance their efficiency.

Story by Justice Baidoo