JSI Country Representative in Ghana, Dr. Henry Nagai, has called on the media to help strengthen and promote the Care Continuum Project for HIV prevention and treatment.

The Care Continuum Project is dedicated to helping Ghana reach its HIV 95/95/95 targets by increasing people living with HIVs access to and use of HIV services in the country.

He noted that while the project is aimed at the general population it is particularly focused on key populations where HIV is very prevalent. These groups include young people, female sex workers and men who have sex with men.

Speaking at the Ghana HIV AIDS Network workshop on Epidemic Control, Thursday, at the Mensvic Grand Hotel, Accra, on the theme: Rethinking Vulnerable Populations in HIV Programmes, Dr. Henry Nagai stated that the media’s role in reaching out to these populations is key to addressing the HIV epidemic.

According to him, while efforts are being made by Civil Society Organisations and other HIV Prevention focused groups to create awareness on the virus and get more people to get tested, it is up to the media to provide information and education to the general public to support the efforts of these groups.

The need for the media to join the fight, he said, is particularly necessary now following a report from the Ghana AIDS Commission which indicated that a total of 23,495 people in Ghana tested positive for HIV in the first half of this year (January to June).

The figure is two percent of the 948,094 people who undertook HIV testing from January to June 2022, the Programme Manager of the National STIs and HIV/AIDS Control Programme, Dr. Stephen Ayisi Addo said in a report filed by state newspaper, graphic online.

“The figure for this new infection is too high, so we need to intensify education to let people know that HIV is still real; …We have to let people know that they need to stick to the prevention strategies…,” he said.

Addressing health journalists and editors who had attended the workshop, Dr. Nagai noted that the time is now to push HIV related information back to the front pages.

He noted that with the media involved, issues including Intimate Partner Violence, Gender Based Violence, stigma and discrimination that have posed a challenge to HIV prevention, care and treatment, index testing, and PrEP interventions can be mitigated.

He also added that the media should also be actively involved in advocating for the rights of key populations and persons living with HIV to important HIV health care.

As well, the media through its various programming can encourage people within key populations to get tested for the virus and start treatment immediately.

The Care Continuum Project currently is improving comprehensive HIV services for general and priority populations in the Western, Western North and Ahafo regions.

As part of its key strategies, it is involved in social mobilization to reach existing faith based organisations, networks or men and youth, and key populations using locality specific resources, and also it strengthens the community’s response system for sexual and domestic violence to ensure a stigma and violence free environment.