Sunyani, June 25, GNA – Mr. William Saawil Sopiimeh, Brong-Ahafo Regional HIV/AIDS Coordinator, on Wednesday appealed to health workers and non-governmental organizations working in the area of HIV/AIDS to focus on the prevention of new infections.
He said a recent survey conducted by the National AIDS Control Programme showed that while awareness about HIV is high, knowledge on the ways the pandemic is transmitted is low among adult Ghanaians.
Mr. Sopiimeh said this at the opening of a two-day HIV/AIDS review meeting for the first quarter of the year and participants included health administrators and workers in the region.
The meeting was under the theme: “Preventing New HIV Infections-A Challenge to the District response to the HIV/AIDS Epidemic” and its objectives included reviewing HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, care and support activities from January to March.
Mr. Sopiimeh said more emphasis is being placed on the treatment, care and support components of the HIV/AIDS Control Programme rather than on preservation and called for measures to stem the tide.
He said 667 HIV/AIDS cases were reported in the first quarter of the year as compared to 594 cases reported within the same period in 2006.
“Henceforth, such quarterly HIV/AIDS review meetings will be organized on regular basis because of the importance the regional health directorate attaches to HIV/AIDS control programme”, he said.

Alhaj Dr. Mohammed Bin Ibrahim, Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of Health Services, said in an address read on his behalf that there was no way hospitals could cope with the increasing number of AIDS cases and called for collaborative efforts from all sectors to address the problem.
He said the Regional Health Directorate had embarked on activities to help halt the spread of the pandemic.
They include public education and behavioural change, communication on HIV/AIDS, scaling up counselling, testing and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV, ensuring safe blood transfusion, condom promotion and distribution and providing anti-retroviral drugs to people living with HIV/AIDS.
He said antiretroviral drugs are accessible to people living with the virus in six centres.
These are the Regional Hospital in Sunyani, Holy Family Hospital in Techiman, Methodist Hospital in Wenchi, the Government Hospital in Kintampo, Presbyterian Hospital in Dormaa Ahenkro and the Government Hospital at Goaso.
“Additionally, there are also 76 Counselling and Testing/Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV/AIDS centres located in various parts of the region manned by 241 professionally trained HIV/AIDS Counsellors.”
These are centres where everybody can walk in and after the necessary counselling, take an HIV screening test to know his or her HIV status”, he said.
Dr. Bin Ibrahim launched the “know your HIV status campaign” in the region, to motivate individuals in the region to know their HIV status.
Mr. Nat Dzadey, Regional HIV Monitoring and Evaluation Focal Person, expressed worry that the pandemic continued to ravage the communities in spite of the commitment of the government and other stakeholders to fight it.
He said 17,967 cases had been recorded in the region since 1986 and added “the current rate is fuelled by the rise in urban prevalence, while efforts to curb the pandemic has been challenged by stigmatization, discrimination and moral indiscipline as well as negative cultural and traditional beliefs. Source: GNA - Ghana News Agency