There are over 100,000 people living with and spreading HIV without knowing it - AIDS Commission boss

There are over 100,000 persons who are unknowingly living with HIV and possibly spreading it around, the Ghana AIDS Commission has stated.

This, the Director General of the Commission, Dr. Kyeremeh Atuahene, said, is a representation of 28% of persons in Ghana living with the virus.

“More than 28% of people living with HIV still do not know their HIV status because they have not tested. That represents about 100,000 people. They are spreading it unknowingly and that is not the best,” he said, according to a report by myjoyonline.com.

Dr. Atuahene further called on all citizens to make it a duty to know what their statuses are.

He stressed that with that, the success rates of treatment of the disease can be adequately increased.

“If you wait till you get AIDS before you go to the hospital, it will take a much longer time for you to recover in terms of boosting your immune system for it to regenerate and support your body, it takes a longer time,” he added.

Meanwhile, by way of arresting this situation, the Ghana AIDS Commission has mounted an aggressive search for these over 100,000 persons.

The Director General added that when this is successful, then they can start treating these people of the virus, helping to stop its spread.

He also stated that it is for such reasons that the HIV self-test campaign was recently launched in the country.

“There are people who are under-served when it comes to HIV services. Some are hard to reach and they may not have the opportunity to get any of the services so bringing the services to their doorstep will enable those who fear to know their status to at least start the process by testing to see whether they are reactive or not,” he added.

Ghana’s leading digital news platform, GhanaWeb, in conjunction with the Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, is embarking on an aggressive campaign which is geared towards ensuring that parliament passes comprehensive legislation to guide organ harvesting, organ donation, and organ transplantation in the country.

AE/WA