No Herbs Can Cure HIV--Ghana AIDS Commission Insists

The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has said there is still no known cure or vaccine for HIV and AIDS currently.

The Commission has, therefore, advised persons living with HIV (PLHIV) to stick strictly to the Anti-Retroviral medication to stay healthy.

The Director-General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Dr. Mokowa Blay Adu-Gyamfi, who refuted the claims of a herbal cure for HIV at a media briefing in Accra, said these claims should be ignored.

She told PLHIV that; “If you think herbal medicines are good for you, have them as supplements like you take vitamins. Please tell everybody who is living with the virus never to neglect to take the antiretroviral medication in addition to the therapy.”

The briefing was held at the end of a two-day Annual Strategic Planning Meeting of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), and it aimed at charting the way forward in the fight of HIV epidemic for 2018.

It was attended by regional, district and national officers of the Commission, and chaired by Dr. Adu-Gyamfi.

Dr. Adu-Gyamfi said the strategic objectives of GAC for 2018 were to ensure the availability of funding for all relevant HIV programmes and review and formulate policies towards epidemic control.

She said currently there were enough antiretroviral drugs in the country, including pediatric medication, emphasising that “GAC is not short of medication”.

She said the Commission, however, had challenges with funding, which would enable it to carry out its education, counselling and testing activities, among other things.

A Ghana AIDS Fund will be launched by President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo in May, this year, to encourage private entities and businesses to contribute to the cause.