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Over 8,000 females live with HIV/AIDS in Bono Region — HIV Coordinator
The female population of persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLwHAs) in the Bono Region outnumbers the male, statistics from the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has indicated. The figure reveals as of September 2024, out of the total 11,401 persons living with HIV and AIDS (PLwHAs) in the region, 8,481 of them were females and 2,727 males.
Mr Emmanuel Obeng-Hinneh, the Bono Regional HIV Coordinator of the GHS who disclosed the figures, added that, however, all PLwHAs were currently on treatment.
He was speaking at a stakeholder meeting in Sunyani organised by the Bono Regional office of the Technical Support Unit of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) in collaboration with the Bono Regional Coordinating Council.
The meeting sought to identify gaps and opportunities to strengthen the Regional HIV response and provided a common platform for the stakeholders to share, identify and find lasting solutions to challenges and well strategies to improve HIV prevention, treatment, and care.
Mr Obeng-Hinneh also highlighted the Viral Load (VL) testing trend on HIV, saying out of the 9,791 clients eligible for test, 8,177 samples had been taken, with 6,270 tests conducted.
“The VL testing coverage was 64 per cent with 88 per cent VL suppression rate,” he stated. Mr Ahmed Ibrahim Bambilla, the Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regional Technical Coordinator of the GAC urged the stakeholders to continue to support the Commission to effectively respond to the HIV trend in the region. He stressed the GAC’s commitment to support NGOs to undertake HIV preventive measures and programmes in order to help stem the spread of the disease. -GNA