Bono Regional Technical Officer, Monitoring and Evaluation of the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Mark Kyeremeh Oppong, says new Human Immune Virus (HIV) infections are fast spreading in the Berekum Municipality of the Bono Region, recording the highest HIV and AIDS prevalence of 3.34 percent.

He described the statistics from the Ghana AIDS Commission's 2023 HIV and AIDS sentinel survey as alarming, noting that the Bono Region as a whole was also showing concerning numbers.

Mr Oppong called on sexually active young people to abstain from premarital sexual practices, multiple sex partners, and urged those who could not control their sexual desires to avoid unprotected sex.

He was speaking at the launch of the “Miss Elegance Tertiary Ghana 2025”, a beauty pageant initiated by the Reproductive Needs and Fitness (RENEF) foundation, a health-centered Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO).

RENEF focuses on reproductive health and promotes gender equality and using the 2025 beauty pageant as a campaign to encourage tertiary students to voluntarily check their HIV and AIDS status and to help bring the rising cases under control.

Mr. Oppong expressed concern that the Bono Region had recorded the highest HIV prevalence rates in the country for three consecutive years and emphasised the urgent need for research to determine the factors driving the rapid spread of infections in the region.

The Chief Executive Officer of the RENEF, Abigail Antwi-Baafi, said the foundation was using the beauty pageant to intensify the “know your HIV status” campaign, especially for tertiary students to test and know their HIV and AIDS status.

“We aim at tackling health and social needs through entertainment,” she stated, and the campaign was also aimed at augmenting the agenda “95-95-95” of the GAC, she added.

The United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has set ambitious treatment targets known as Project 95-95-95, aiming to achieve 95 percent of people living with HIV knowing their status, 95 percent of diagnosed individuals on antiretroviral therapy (ART), and 95 percent of those on ART achieving viral suppression.

As part of the campaign, Mrs Antwi-Baafi said free condoms would also be distributed to encourage the public to use condoms and protect themselves from new infections of HIV.

A total of 12 tertiary institutions, including Technical Universities and Colleges of Education, are took part in the beauty pageant.