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Public urged to get tested and treated to end HIV and Aids
The United States Ambassador to Ghana, Ms Stephanie Sullivan has encouraged the public to get tested and treated, as an important step towards ending HIV and AIDs.
According to her, AIDS was no longer a death sentence if people got tested, knew their status and sustained themselves on treatment, adding that persons living with HIV (PLHIV) abandoning treatment would have their viral load unsuppressed, which could cause the person to be sick or lose his or her life.
“People starting and remaining on treatment prevent the spread of HIV and once the person continues to be sustained on treatment, it would get to a point where the individual’s viral load becomes undetectable, which means that the test cannot detect the virus hence the individual cannot transmit to another person although extremely small amount of HIV would still be present in the blood.”
Ms Sullivan was speaking at the closing of a four-week intensive virtual training on HIV and COVID-19 Anti Stigma Campaign, organised by the United States President Emergency Programme for AIDS relief (PERFA) in collaboration with African Centre for Development Reporting and Media Healthlink for some selected journalists across the country.
The training, was to build the capacity of the journalists to enhance their reportage to better inform the public on HIV issues towards achieving the UNAIDS fast tract goal 95-95-95.
Ms Sullivan said the introduction of the one dose antiretroviral drug a day instead of two dozes was heart-warming, “knowing that when one is sustained on treatment for six or more continuous months, he or she does not transmit the virus through sex”.
The US Ambassador to Ghana, urged the media to raise awareness on the “test and treat programme” in order to improve the lives of PLHIV.
“Your continuous coverage presented in a non- technical way and your ability to help your audience to clearly understand the key difference between when the person is on treatment or not will be critical to improving the public health of the country as well as save many lives.
She said explaining HIV and AIDS issues to the ordinary people to understand would also help to address issues of stigma and discrimination as well as encourage PLHIV to take advantage of the available HIV services.
Ms Sullivan said the US government and the government of Ghana have worked
hand-in-hand over the years to improve HIV epidemic control and would continue to remain deeply committed to working with the government to extend key population’s access to quality, stigma-free, live saving HIV prevention, testing and treatment services.
The PERFA Media Specialist, Dzid Kwame recounted that huge investment have been made by the US government in previous years through PEPFAR in areas including capacity building, as well as in the testing and treatment of PLHIV.
She stated that it was necessary to speak about HIV and AIDS, especially in the era of COVID-19 so that the focus to achieve the 95-95_95 UN fast -track goal of ending AIDS by 2030 was not shifted.
She urged the media to continue to educate the public to enable them understand HIV issues, get tested and sustain themselves on treatment, adding that it would help achieve the goals set by 2030.
From Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman, Koforidua
News
UNODC partners GFA Foundation on Prison advocacy and mentorship programme
The GFA Foundation and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have agreed to work together to advocate for anti-discrimination and the elimination of stigmatization for prisoners and prisons.
This partnership was agreed, in principle, during a meeting at the Home of Football (GFA Head Office) between the Director of the GFA Foundation and the UNODC Team led by Mr. Christoph Capelle, an Associate Expert in Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice and the Coordinator of the prison and penal reform project in Ghana.
Welcoming the Team to the Home of Football, the Director of the GFA Foundation, Mr. Malcolm Frazier Appeadu briefed the team about the GFA Foundation – Ghana Prisons Project which has covered 6 prisons across the country already.
He indicated that the Foundation is liaising with the Ghana Prisons Service to commence the second and third pillars of the project, which are the coaches and referees training programs as well as the advocacy and mentorship initiatives.
He said that the GFA Foundation will welcome partners for the execution of the second phase of the project which will include Ankaful Maximum Security Prison, Kumasi Central Prison, Sekondi Central Prison and three other prison facilities.
In his response, Mr. Christoph Capelle commended the GFA for the GFA Foundation – Ghana Prisons Project which seeks to use the power of football to promote the wellbeing, reformation, rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates of Ghana’s prisons into society.
Mr. Capelle said that UNODC is looking forward to a collaboration with the GFA Foundation on possible programs for both the medium and long term to support football and sports jobs and skills development in Ghana’s prisons.
He extended an invitation to the GFA Foundation to be part of an assessment of overall prison rehabilitation programmes including the use of sports by their international consultant at the Ankaful Maximum Security Prison.
There will be a football match and donation of footballs, sports items and equipment to the prison facility.
Present at the meeting were Mr. Kwame Koramoah, an officer at the GFA Foundation and Integrity Office, Helena Adobea Ofori, Associate Programme Officer, UNODC and Caleb Elorm Agodzo, Administrative Officer, UNODC.
It will be recalled that in 2020, The UNODC and FIFA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to tackle corruption and crime in and through sports and pledged to consider ways in which football can be used as a vehicle to strengthen youth resilience to crime and substance use through the provision of life skills training.
The MOU was renewed last year by FIFA President Gianni Infantino and UNODC Executive Director Ghada Waly in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.
News
Gomoa West: NPP, NDC supporters clash over commissioning of DRIP equipment
Supporters of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP) on Monday morning clashed over the commissioning of machinery for the District Road Infrastructure Project in the Gomoa West District of the Central Region.
According to Citi News sources, the conflict began when NDC supporters questioned the decision to display images of Bismark Basie Nkum, the NPP’s Gomoa West parliamentary candidate on the DRIP machinery.
This disagreement quickly escalated, almost leading to a physical altercation between the two groups.
Baisie Nkum, who doubles as the District Chief Executive (DCE) for Gomoa West, further claimed that the Member of Parliament for the area, Richard Gyan Mensah, brandished a pistol and issued threats against the NPP’s local leadership.
A viral video circulating on social media captured the DCE accusing MP Richard Gyan Mensah of pulling out a gun and threatening NPP supporters during the heated incident.
Source: Citinewsroom.com
