Statistics from the 2018 National Estimates and Projections for HIV/AIDs peg the national prevalence rate at 1.69 percent, estimated new cases of infection, and 14,181 estimated aids-related deaths. The Ashanti region recorded the highest number of persons living with HIV in 2020 with 73,245.
People living with HIV/AIDS can live long and do away with the mentality of going on to infect others if society is well sensitized on why stigmatization kills faster than the virus itself. In these trying times, one needs to get much closer to the patient. This is the time they need reassurance and company.
Desisting from sentencing them to death by the attitude f stigma allows for many to go all out testing for their status. Many have never gone to a test to know their status due to the stigma attached and how better it is for them to avoid it.
A friend of mine, who worked with the of the popular health facilities here in the Ashanti region recounted how a group of young ladies in their early and mid-twenties visited their facility to test for HIV and all came out positive. They were counseled and asked to come the next day to start management treatment, and that was the last time they were seen there! These young beautiful women, when left without continuous counseling will go spreading the virus without sympathy.
The Ghana Aids Commission, the media, and other major stakeholders need to come together to roll out campaigns against stigmatization that will do well to clear the many doubts in the head of uncertain Ghanaians.
Source: George Opoku Mensah
