Pregnant women tested positive for HIV at the Eastern Regional Hospital, Koforidua increased marginally between January to June 2020.
According to the management of the hospital, 1.9% of pregnant women who attended antenatal care during the first six months of this year were tested positive an increase from 1.6% the same period in 2019.
Meanwhile, early infant diagnosis of HIV also increased steadily from 7.3% in 2019 to 8.8% in 2020. These are increases from 4.9% recorded in the same period in 2018 at the hospital.
The hospital conducted 2,720 deliveries during the period under review.
This was revealed by the Medical Director of the Eastern Regional Hospital, Dr. Arko Akoto Ampaw in an interaction with the media.
People living with HIV in 2019 in Ghana totaled 339,727 but rose to 345,534 in 2020.
HIV prevalence for 2019 among pregnant women in Ghana was 2.0 percent. Antiretroviral therapy coverage for PMTCT (% of pregnant women living with HIV) in Ghana was reported at 75 % in 2019.
Ghana was targeting to end mother-to-child transmission by 2020 and eliminate HIV/AIDS among Children by 2030.
Globally, 2.2 million children were living with HIV, and of this number, 1.4 million live in Africa as of 2019.
As a result, the Organisation of African First Ladies Against HIV and AIDS (OAFLA), launched a campaign dubbed “Free to Shine” in January 2018 in Ethiopia towards prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) to reduce pediatric HIV.
The Free to shine campaign is a bid to improve outcomes of PMTCT by increasing awareness and uptake of PMTCT services so that children are born free of HIV.
The objective of the ‘Free to Shine’ campaign was to accelerate the commitment of African Nations to end childhood AIDS and keep mothers healthy.
Ghana’s first lady Rebecca Akufo Addo replicated the launching in Ghana in January 2019 and stated that “it is possible to end HIV and AIDS in children in Ghana within the next two years, through the Free to shine campaign”.
Source: Mybrytfmonline /Obed Ansah
