High Rate Of HIV In Brong Ahafo Worrying

The Brong Ahafo Region has the highest rate of HIV/AIDS infection in the country, much to the disappointment of residents and opinion leaders in the area.

The region has the highest prevalence rate of 2.7%.

The Sunyani Municipality, the regional capital, is the urban area in the country with the highest prevalence rate of 4.2%, an indication that the 2016 HIV Sentinel Survey puts the region in the lead of HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the country.

These statistics were revealed by the Brong Ahafo Regional Minister, Kwaku Asomah-Cheremeh, at a meeting with members of the Regional Security Council (REGSEC), Heads of Department/Agencies, Municipal/District Chief Executives and Traditional Authorities of the region on Thursday.

“The region has the highest HIV prevalence rate of 2.7% in the country along with Volta region, and Sunyani municipality where I stay is the urban area in Ghana with the highest prevalence rate of 4.2%. So Brong Ahafo is leading the HIV/AIDs pandemic.”

He therefore called for concerted efforts by all stakeholders to address the pandemic that has the potential to affect the quality of the country's much needed human resource for development and economic transformation.

He said the region only have a total of 792 health facilities including hospitals, clinics, health centres, maternity homes and CHPs, to render health care services, and lamented logistical challenges, lack of staff, high neonatal mortality rates, and increasing rate of teenage pregnancies, which he said puts pressure on the limited facilities thereby affecting quality healthcare delivery in the region.

On the performance of the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the Minister said as at September, 2016, the scheme had a total active membership of 718,444 as against a total active membership of 731,682 in September 2017, an increase of 1.8%.

He added that the number of health service providers as at September 2017, increased to 481 from 430 in September 2016, a situation that demonstrates a renewal of people’s confidence in the scheme.

Sanitation
Mr. Asomah-Cheremeh revealed a 244 million US dollar master-plan by the Ghana Water Company Limited (GWCL), to construct a new treatment plant with the capacity of 10.3million gallons of water per day on the Tano River, to promote water sufficiency in the region to support the Abesim, Tanoso, Biaso and Berekum head pumps, which supply only 3.2 million gallons a day to most areas of districts in the region.

He noted that the Sustainable Rural Water and Sanitation Project (SRWSP), Chinese Assisted Water Project and Social Investment Fund Water Project, implemented by the Community Water and Sanitation Agency, will complement the quality water needs of residents.

The Regional Minister however expressed worry about the indiscriminate disposal of waste, and tasked the assemblies and institutions to do more in the management of waste in their areas.

“All around us, we see piled up refuse, choked gutters and drains which cumulatively lead to health problems of our people and expose the weakness in our environmental and sanitation management efforts of the assemblies. Let's take a serious look at our sanitation management strategies and involve all stakeholders”, he emphasized.