HIV infection recently high among pregnant women in Ghana - Report
- HIV infection is recently high among pregnant women in Ghana
- The manager of the National AIDS/STI Control Programme, Dr Stephen Ayisi Addo revealed that it attributed to the increased confidence in infertility among persons living with HIV
- Dr Addo said a survey conducted in 2020 showed that women who had been pregnant more than once had a higher prevalence
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The manager of the National AIDS/STI Control Programme, Dr Stephen Ayisi Addo, has revealed that HIV infection is recently high among pregnant women in Ghana.
According to him, the surge in the cases among pregnant women can be attributed to the increased confidence in infertility among persons living with HIV.
In a report filed by Asaaseradio.com, Dr Addo said data analysis in a Sentinel Survey conducted in 2020 revealed that women who had been pregnant more than once had a higher prevalence compared to first pregnancies partly because of their confidence that they could have healthy babies.
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He added that the prevalence among general antenatal care (ANC) clients was 2% and among those with Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis among others was 10% in 2020.
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Data from the HIV Estimates and AIDS Projections report also revealed that 5,200 new infections of HIV were recorded in children 0-14.
Dr Ayisi Addo said persons who tested positive and became pregnant, assumed that their babies would become automatically positive often leading to the abandonment of the babies.
He said HIV suppressed fertility, and persons who tested positive and were not on treatment had their fertility robustness reduced as a result of the viral effect, adding that with treatment, “some persons were delivering healthy twins.”
Dr Addo said NACP was working with collaborative agencies, the Ministries of Gender and Social Protection, Education and Health to empower them to be free from HIV.
GHS laments low turnout for COVID-19 vaccination
In other news, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) has lamented the low turnout of people for the vaccination exercise in the country despite the availability of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Dr. Kwame Amponsah Achiano, the Programmes Manager of the Expanded Programme on Immunisation at the GHS revealed that the country has a lot of vaccines in store but the people are not turning out to be inoculated.
According to a 3news report, Dr Achiano said the officials sit in their facilities all day with as little as two people turning up to be vaccinated.
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