Increasing rate of HIV cases among blood donors

Mpreaso (E/R), Jan. 20, GNA- The Kwahu South District Director of Health, Dr Joseph K. L. Opare has expressed concern about the increasing number of HIV positive cases among voluntary blood donors in the district.

He said in 2005, out of the 970 voluntary blood donors, 30 were HIV positive, in 2006, 44 of the 1,043 blood donors tested HIV positive, while among the 1,132 voluntary blood donors in the district, in 2007, 62 tested HIV positive.

Dr. Opare said the Kwahu South District recorded 171 new HIV cases for 2007 as against 138 recorded the previous and explained that, the trend is not encouraging and demand that more efforts need to be put up in campaigns aimed at helping to reduce the spread of the HIV virus in the district.

He was speaking at the annual district health directorate performance review meeting at Mpreaso on Friday which was organized under the theme "Creating wealth through health". Dr. Opare said the district recorded 11.8 per cent decrease in malaria cases and no pregnant woman died from malaria attack in the district during the year under review, while the district also did not record any disease outbreak and there was no Guineaworm case was recorded in the district in 2007.

He said the greatest challenge confronting efforts at provision of better health care in the district was lack of accommodation for health staff and as a result a lot of health workers transferred to the district were not willing to accept postings because they could not get residential accommodation.

Dr. Opare appealed to Kwahu citizens who have buildings on the Kwahu ridge to rent them to the District Health Directorate to be given to health workers and also urged those with resources to build houses to rent to health workers in the area.

Senior Nursing Officer in-charge of reproductive and child health services of the district, Mrs Comfort Koranteng Asante said the district recorded 15 teenage cases among girls between 10 to 14 years. She explained that, the teenage pregnancy in the district is still high and it is among such group of people who normally attempt illegal abortion which often lead to death and appealed to all stakeholders to support reproductive health programmes for adolescents to help reduce teenage pregnancies in the district.

The Kwahu South District Chief Executive, Nana Kofi Onwona Asante said the district is planning to initiate periodic mass spraying against malaria on a pilot basis and expressed the hope that the project could lead to reduction of malaria cases in the district. He said the four district assemblies in the Kwahu area are also planning to come together to contribute resource to use to support the various hospitals in the Kwahu area. January 19, 2008