Ghana AIDS Commission restocks regions with ARV drugs
The Ghana Aids Commission (GAC) says it has restocked the regions that recorded shortages of Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and HIV test kits.
The Commission, therefore, encouraged all persons who needed the ARVs to go for their refill as quickly as possible.
Dr Kyeremeh Atuahene, the Director General of the GAC, at the dissemination of findings of the 2019 National and Sub-National HIV and AIDS estimates and projections in Accra, said there were currently no stock outs in any part of the country and that anybody who needed antiretroviral could receive them in any health facility that provided treatment services.
“Indeed, there was a brief stock out in some regions but this situation was quickly addressed by filling the pipeline to ensure that regions have adequate stocks for the next few months,” he said.
He said the Commission was presently working with the global fund and its partners to bring in additional commodities to cover the supply needs of Persons living with HIV and AIDS for the rest of the year.
Dr Atuahene said a total of 342,307 Persons comprising 219,986 females and 122,321 males were living with HIV in Ghana.
The Director General said the annual new infection of about 20,000 persons was very high hence the need for the nation to take HIV testing and treatment more seriously, especially among adolescents and young women who were the most at risk.
To address the high numbers of new infections, Dr Atuahene said the Commission was exploring ways to initiate HIV self-testing to encourage more people to conduct their own tests at any given time and seek for medical help.
“We will soon launch a campaign to encourage everyone in all regions to test and know their HIV status to bring the new infections down and deliver an AIDS free nation,” he said.
He urged stakeholders to ensure that the projections and estimates made by the Commission were utilised for national benefits and serve as guide to all HIV and AIDs interventions.
Dr Stephen Ayisi Addo, the Programme Manager, National Aids Control Programme, said large quantities of ARVs were distributed earlier this year based on the assumption that the country would receive shipment of more drugs.
“Due to the Coronavirus, there have been delays in shipment and our pipeline has seen some reduction, there are very low stocks in the regions and at national level, but we are making efforts to procure commodities immediately,” he said.
Mr Addo said in the interim, clients would not get the full complement of commodities and would have to manage with what was available and assured the public that the programme was doing everything possible to beef up supply.
He said Ghana would not be able to achieve its 90-90-90- set targets to test, care and treat persons with HIV but was hopeful it would be attained within the next three years.
Source: GNA