The low condom use among the youth, especially adolescent girls and young women, is posing a serious challenge to efforts to reduce HIV infections in the Volta Region, the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has said.

There are currently 19,078 people living with HIV (PLHIV) in the Volta Region, representing 5.7 per cent of the total national population of PLHIV of 334,721.

They include 4,999 males aged 15 and older and 12,881 females aged 15 and older, in addition to 1,198 children.

The Volta Regional Technical Coordinator of GAC, Mary Naa Asheley Anyomi, disclosed this last Monday, during the inauguration of the reconstituted Regional Committee of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) in Ho.

She said the general population prevalence rate in the region stood at 2.1 per cent, while the rate was 4.3 per cent among female sex workers (FSW) and 28.1 per cent among men who have sex with men (MSM).

Mrs Anyomi said there were now 809 fresh cases of HIV in the region, including 221 males above 15 years and 519 females above 15, in addition to 69 children. 

She said the anti-retroviral coverage across all 18 districts ranged from 38.4 per cent to 61.5 per cent.

Meanwhile, the Regional Technical Coordinator of GAC revealed that the HIV intervention programmes in the region were solely donor-funded and were not widespread. 

She said that stigma and discrimination against PLHIV also discouraged testing, treatment, and disclosure.

On the way forward, Mrs Anyomi said there was a need to expand HIV testing services to ensure more people knew their status and to implement community-based testing programmes to reach remote or marginalised populations. 

She highlighted the need to promote condom use and make them readily accessible across the region.

The nine-member committee has the Regional Minister, James Gunu, as chairman. 

In a speech read on his behalf, he pledged the Volta Regional Coordinating Council’s support for all efforts by GAC to end AIDS by 2030.

“Together, we will work to ensure the municipalities and districts in the region have active and functional committees of the commission, and that all stakeholders play their respective roles,” he added. 

Mr Gunu urged members of the committee to discharge their duties with diligence, passion, and integrity.

The other members of the committee were selected from the Ghana Health Service, Network of Associations of Persons Living with HIV, a Civil Society Organisation, Ghana Education Service, the Volta Region House of Chiefs, and GAC.