Thirty-two pregnant women in the Sunyani West District tested HIV positive in 2014, when they were screened at the antenatal clinic, statistics from the District Directorate of Health, has revealed.

Mrs Eva Aryee, the Sunyani West District Director of Health, who disclosed this on Friday, said the patients had been placed on anti-retroviral therapy to protect their unborn babies.

Addressing the 2014 Annual Performance Review Meeting of the Directorate at Fiapre, near Sunyani, Mrs Aryee said the patients were among the 3,117 pregnant women who were screened in the period.

She explained that the HIV menace continued to be a great challenge in the District, saying that the major concern of the Directorate was to prevent mother-to-child transmission of the disease.

Mrs Aryee said that the Directorate recorded eight still births, and one case of maternal death, seven cases of cholera and 13 suspected cases of yellow fever,.

She explained that Out Patient Department (OPD) cases jumped slightly from 126,810 in 2013 to 143,397 in 2014, with malaria recording the highest figure.

The District Health Director said the biggest challenge of the Directorate was the delays in the release of funds by the National Health Insurance Authority to the health facilities, disclosing that, the NHIA’s debt of GH¢ 800,645.76 to the Directorate, had affected almost all the various health facilities.

Mrs Aryee said the frequent breakdown of motorbikes, lack of accommodation for health staff, high attrition of staff to basic schools, and the refusal of postings of health workers to deprived communities, were the problems facing the Directorate.

She commended the district assembly, traditional rulers, and other stakeholders in the District for their support towards disease control in the area.

Mrs Rhodaline Adwoa Conduah, the Sunyani West District Coordinating Director, expressed concern about the rate of teenage pregnancy in the area, and called on the district health Directorate to intensify sex education.

She said last year, the assembly constructed CHPS compound for the Abronye Community, and mechanized a borehole for the people of Bofourkrom, adding that, it had awarded the contract for work to soon begin on the CHPS compound for the Akwasuo Community.