By Alex Ababio
The Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Dr. Kyeremeh Atuahene, has stated that “The galamsey threat can significantly add to the new HIV infections and further retard progress towards achieving the elimination plan. A new report that assessed the impact of national resources extraction projects on HIV transmission risks in local communities in sub-Saharan nations, including Ghana, reports that mine openings increases the chances of HIV infections very nearly two folds.”
Dr Kyeremeh Atuahene made this statement when he was Speaking at a ceremony to observe World AIDS Day under the theme “Putting Ourselves to the Test: Achieving Equity to End HIV” in Accra.
He stressed that “It likewise observed that new mine openings were related with increase unsafe sexual behaviors like multiple partners, high-risk sexual partners , and unprotected sex with high-risk partners .”
On his part the Program Manager of the National STIs and HIV/ AIDS Control Program, Dr. Stephen Ayisi Addo noted that statistics from the National STIs and HIV/AIDS Control Program showed that a sum of 23,495 individuals tested positive for HIV in the first half of 2022.
He saud the figure is two percent of the 948,094 individuals who underwent HIV testing from January to June 2022,
He expressed the greater part of the 23,495 individuals who tested positive had since been placed on HIV treatment.
Dr Stephen Ayisi Addo indicated ,however , that a network of institutions driving the HIV and AIDS responses in the nation has started national stakeholders engagement as part of activities to review intervention for improved results.