HIV/AIDS cases in Ghana may rise- CAIN director

Mr William Adusei, an international anti-HIV/AIDS activist and treatment advocate has said that the number of HIV/AIDS cases in the country could rise appreciably for the next five years before it begins to drop.

This is because many people are living with the disease without knowing, he told an HIV/AIDS forum organized by the Centre of AIDS Information Network (CAIN), a Takoradi-based NGO on Thursday.

Mr Adusei said people must be encouraged to offer themselves for voluntary testing and counselling for them to know their HIV/AIDS status.

He held that much had been done in respect of education on the disease and suggested that attention should now be focused on its treatment and management.

Mr Adusei cautioned policy makers and advisors in the health sector to be wary of accepting any kind of retroviral vaccines or drugs, "even if it is free", saying the side effects of some of the drugs could be as dangerous as the disease itself.

He said some of the vaccines were potent in the treatment of only some strands of the disease that are found among a particular people and that researchers must be encouraged to find out the most suitable vaccines for the treatment of the disease especially among people in the sub-region.

Ms Florence Brown-Orleans of the International Healthcare Centre in Accra, said people should overcome some of the cultural and societal norms that militated against effective sex education.

She said another problem that the country would have to address is the rising number of gays in the society, whose sexual activities contributed to the spread of the disease.

She also spoke against the irresponsible attitude of some families who virtually abandon their relatives suffering from the disease and even refuse to collect the body when they die.

Ms Brown-Orleans called on religious organizations to "sit up", and lead the crusade against the spread of the disease in the country.

She announced that her clinic, in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission, would start offering free voluntary HIV/AIDS testing. It would also organize musical concerts and AIDS walk as part of activities to mark next the World AIDS Day in Takoradi on December 1.