No cure yet for HIV ...GAC urges strict adherence to treatment
The Ghana AIDS Commission is urging patients to maintain strict adherence to antiretroviral therapy, emphasizing that no cure for HIV currently exists. Officials are working to improve treatment coverage by addressing stigma and increasing access to medication.
Why it matters
Improving treatment adherence is a vital public health strategy to suppress viral loads and reduce HIV-related mortality rates.
The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has reiterated that there is still no cure for HIV, urging persons diagnosed with the disease to remain on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment to suppress the virus and live long with healthy lives.
It said although antiretroviral therapy (ART) was highly effective, Ghana’s treatment coverage remained low, with only 57 per cent of the estimated 337,435 persons living with HIV (PLHIV), currently on treatment.
The Director-General of GAC, Dr Kharmacelle Prosper Akanbong, attributed the low coverage to self - denial, stigma and discrimination, as well as people discontinuing treatment when they began to feel healthy or resorting to prayer and herbal remedies.
He made this known in an interview with The Ghanaian Times on the side-lines of a capacity-building workshop organised by the commission in collaboration with the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) yesterday.
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