The Eastern Region is expected to be flooded with condoms ahead of the celebration of Valentine’s Day on Monday, February 14, 2022.
Hundreds of condoms will be distributed by the Ghana AIDS Commission in all 33 districts and Municipalities in the region.
The Acting Eastern Regional Technical Coordinator of the Technical Unit of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Ebenezer Appiah Agyekum Abrokwah said currently, the Eastern region has a prevalence of 2.2 which means that if you take a thousand people aged 15 to 49 you will get about 22 of them being HIV positive therefore imperative that, condoms are made available and accessible on a day like a valentine’s day which is associated with increased sexual activities for the protection.
He said the condoms will be distributed to non-traditional distribution outlets such as pubs, restaurants, drinking spots among others for easy access.
“Hopefully this year we will also engage them again to make sure services are available, we will also be focusing on the youth making sure that senior high school students are also getting some education via media and any other platforms available for us so the main aim is to create awareness, encourage people to know their status, and also encourage people to protect themselves and if they do all this then it means that we are breaking the chain of transmission of HIV”. Ebenezer Appiah Agyekum Abrokwa said.
He added in an interview with Bryt FM that “We as an organization, one of our condom distribution strategies are to make sure that condoms are made available for all the people.
One of the key strategies we have been using over the years under our NSP 2016 to 2020 was that we used non-traditional condom sales outlets to get condoms so back done when we were actively engaging NGOs’s the main thing was that if you are even in the village you could easily have access to condoms at a very subsidized cost. Because this valentine day is huge in Ghana, we are collaborating with NGO’s and doing condom activation as part of our intervention this year”
He said HIV is still an issue in the Eastern region therefore the Commission is working hard with all the key stakeholders, the Ghana health service, NGO’s and all the government agencies, district Assemblies, and other departments to make sure that people become aware that HIV is still in the communities “So that people can take care of themselves, protecting themselves, getting tested and if they are testing positive then they are being enrolled on antiretroviral therapy”.
“When we talk about the Eastern region in all the 33 districts, they all have their own HIV prevalence according to the data and so one of the key things for valentine day is that we have an HIV sensitization exercise with national service personnel on Monday and we will be educating, and for instance last year we visited all the hotspot, pups, and bars and we have them condoms, the idea is for people to have access to condoms so that they can protect themselves if they decide to have sex”
The Eastern Region has recorded an estimated 2,128 new HIV infections.
According to the Acting Eastern Regional Technical Coordinator of the Technical Unit of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Ebenezer Appiah Agyekum Abrokwah, the commission attributes the situation to risky Sexual behavior among the youth in the region.
Lower Manya Krobo has the highest new infection with 122 cases, Asuogyaman (119), New Juaben South (113), Yilo Krobo (107), Kwaebibirim (91), West Akyem (90), Upper Manya Krobo (87), Suhum (82), Abuakwa North (78), Afram Plains South (73).
The rest are Birim Central (49), Okere (48), Akwapim North (48), Asene Manso (48), Kwahu East (48), Atiwa West (45), Atiwa East (41), Fanteakwa South (38), Birim South (32) and Akwapim South (27) among others.
People living with HIV in the Eastern Region at the end of 2020 were 47,8166, but only 30,538 are accessing the antiretroviral drugs.
The antiretroviral coverage in the region for all ages is 58 %.
Source: Mybrytnewsroom.com/Obed Ansah
