Juaben Municipality has recorded the highest HIV prevalence in the Ashanti Region with 2.82% of the residents contracting the virus, according to the Ghana AIDS Commission’s 2025 annual report.

According to adomonline.com on May 26, 2026, the HIV and AIDS Focal Person for Juaben Municipality, Abdel Wahab Mohammed, explained that the figures recorded in Juaben was higher because of some factors.

“Juaben is where people come when they have doubts about their HIV and AIDS status because our hospital provides confidential testing, and for those who test positive, we offer counselling and immediate access to antiretroviral therapy,” he said.

Mohammed explained that Juaben Government Hospital serves as both a referral centre and a trusted facility for people from neighbouring districts and other regions.

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He said the concentration of testing, counselling, and antiretroviral therapy (ART) services is why the municipality’s numbers appear swelled up, hence local transmission is not solely responsible for the numbers recorded.

“This suggests that the high case numbers are not driven by local infections alone. Instead, people from outside the municipality come for testing, which makes the statistics appear higher compared to districts with less centralised testing,” he added.

He therefore urged residents to see the data as a call to action, not panic.

“We expected these results because we know the gaps on the ground. What matters now is using this information to strengthen outreach and ensure no one is left behind,” Mohammed said.

Officials say, a committee is expanding community testing, stepping up education in schools and markets, and partnering with civil society to reduce stigma and curb further spread.

The report has since sparked mixed reactions in Juaben.

Some residents said they felt embarrassed, with one storekeeper admitting he avoided wearing a “Me firi Juaben” T-shirt for fear of being stigmatised.

Others said it was a wake-up call to practice safer behaviour.

“As the health experts have revealed in the report, it’s up to us to advise ourselves. For me, I’ve shared this advice with all my family members. If you’re married, focus on your wife. But if you engage in casual sex, you have to protect yourself because contracting HIV comes with a lot of stigma and other consequences,” electrician Shaibu Salifu said.

The Ghana AIDS Commission has called on private partners, assemblies, and traditional leaders to help in campaigning to encourage person living with virus to seek treatment and patronize prevention programmes.

NAD/VPO

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