Kassena-Nankana West District records increase in HIV/AIDS infections among pregnant women

Correspondence from the Upper East Region

The Disease Control Unit of the Kassena-Nankana West District health directorate, says it has recorded an increase in HIV/AIDS infection among pregnant women in the district.

The directorate said the positivity rate in the district, as at the end of 2021, saw a jump from 0.6 to 0.9 percent, with pregnant women

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The district's disease control officer and focal person for HIV, Akanpaabadai Emmanuel Awonanya, who revealed this, said the directorate has, however, enrolled all identified infected pregnant women in the district onto an Antiretroviral treatment plan.

He said the treatment was helping to eliminate the transfer of the viral disease from mothers to their babies. He said tests carried out on babies whose mothers are infected came out negative.

Akanpaabadai Emmanuel spoke to GhanaWeb at Paga when the Presbyterian Health Innovative Projects held its "Spreading the Gospel for HIV/AIDS Prevention" stakeholder meeting on Wednesday, March 16, 2022.

“For the year 2021, the Kassena-Nankana West district carried out several interventions as far as HIV/AIDS is concerned. We have been able to do testing both for pregnant women and the general population. The number of people we have tested has increased from 1,600 to 3,300 plus.

In the number of people tested for HIV/AIDS, we noticed that the positivity rate has increased from 0,6% to 0.9%. We have had more of our pregnant women that are coming to our health facilities being tested positive for HIV.”

“But that notwithstanding, we have a good story to share. These pregnant women have been put on ARV and so those that have delivered so far, all their children are free from the virus because of the ARV.” He told Correspondent Senyalah Castro in an interview.

Akanpaabadai Emmanuel stated that aside from the high prevalence among pregnant women, there was also an increase in the infection rate among the general population. He revealed that 75 people among the general population were also infected with the disease.

He said the infections in the district were rife among people between the ages of 30 to 40 years.

“On the part of the general population, we had 75 people that were tested positive for HIV. We noticed that majority of this number are between the ages of 30 to 40 years. This is the age that most people are always active.”
Akanpaabadai said the vibrant economic activities in the district, which has a border town, among other behavioral factors, account for the surge in infections.

“By virtue of the fact that the district is closer to the Burkina Faso border, there are a lot of economic activities going on and so most people indulge in activities that are exposing them to the disease.”

For his part, the project officer of the Presbyterian Health Innovative Project (PHIP), Frederick Mensah, said the project was being rolled out in the district to support the campaign against HIV/AIDS.

He said the project will give support to the already existing fight in the district to educate residents on HIV/AIDS, its prevention, the importance of getting tested and treated.

Mensah added that fighting the stigma persons living with the disease were faced within the communities and empowering young women with the employable skills to minimize the economic hardship which could push them into engaging in sexual activities to survive, were also very key aspects the project will tackle.
He, therefore, called for the collaborations of state agencies and departments in this fight. He noted a close collaboration will make the campaign against the disease effective.