World Bank approves 60 million dollars for HIV/AIDS treatment project

The World Bank through the International Development Association (IDA) has approved grants worth 60 million dollars to Ghana, Mozambique and Burkina Faso to finance a Regional HIV/AIDS Treatment Acceleration Project (TAP).

Other beneficiaries of the grants are two United Nations Agencies, World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

Mr Yaw Frimpong Addo, Project Co-ordinator of the Private Enterprise Foundation (PEF) announced this at a seminar on TAP organized by PEF for media practitioners in Kumasi on Wednesday.

The seminar was also to sensitise participants about TAP so that they could in turn highlight and educate the public on the project.

He said Ghana would receive 14 million dollars as its share of the amount and that the PEF and other partners would implement the TAP.

He mentioned the other partners as the Family Health International (FHI) and the National Catholic Health Service (NCHS), adding that, the duration of the project would be three years.

Mr Addo said the programme is a public and private initiative made up of a consortium of private companies and mission-based clinics, community-based organizations and the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) and other implementing agencies collaborating to scale-up HIV/AIDS Care and Treatment in Ghana.

The Project Co-ordinator said TAP would focus on five elements including voluntary counselling and testing, home-base care, prevention of opportunistic infections, anti-retroviral therapy and the prevention of mother to child transmission.

He said 10 treatment centres have been set up in Greater Accra, Ashanti, Western and Eastern regions to increase access to care support and treatment of HIV/AIDS infected and affected employees, their dependents and the immediate communities.

Mr Addo mentioned some of the treatment centres as Saint Michael's Catholic Hospital at Pramso and Saint Patrick's Hospital at Offinso-Maase in Ashanti, Odorna and Narbita hospitals at Adabraka and Tema in the Greater Accra, the Holy Family Hospital at Nkawkaw in the Eastern region and Saint Martin's de-Porres Hospital at Eikwe in the Western region.

He said the PEF aims at encouraging HIV/AIDS policies at workplaces and urged business organisations to adopt it to improve productivity.

He urged the media to educate the people on HIV/AIDS through their programmes to help reduce the spread of the disease in the country.