This week I am looking at the country of Ghana and how they are keeping up with Sustainable Development Goal #3.
There are an estimated 270,000 people currently living with HIV in Ghana. 270,000 people may sound like a huge number, but there was a 57% reduction of new HIV cases between the years of 2000-2015. (United Nations, 2019).
Testing for HIV is pretty low in Ghana due to fear of discrimination and the stigma that goes with it. Mother-to-Child Transmission is the biggest cause of death in children under 5 in Ghana.However, Ghana wants to provide more education and resources in hopes of working with the third SDG. Part of SDG #3 is for everyone (which includes women and girls!) to have access to sexual and reproductive health resources. By having more resources and education, Ghana hopes that the stigma around HIV/AIDS will go down and more people will get tested.
Some of the main goals that go toward meeting this are:
- By 2030, end the epidemics of AIDS/HIV
- By 2030, end preventable deaths of newborns and children under 5 years of age
Citations
Goal 3: Good Health. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://gh.one.un.org/content/unct/ghana/en/home/global-agenda-in-ghana/sustainable-development-goals/SDG-3-good-health.html.
HIV prevention. (n.d.). Retrieved October 5, 2019, from https://www.unaids.org/en/topic/prevention.
Unaids.org. (2017, March 28). Ghana chairs UNAIDS PCB for 2017 and confirms commitment to ending AIDS by 2030. Retrieved from https://www.unaids.org/en/resources/presscentre/featurestories/2017/march/20170328_ghana.
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI am glad to hear that Ghana is having 57% reduction of HIV rates! This means that there are changes and that implementations are taking place. The history of AIDS has caused too many lives and money. To hear that the Ghana wants to educate and are willing to contribute to being more proactive into fighting AIDS is a great approach. According to the Government of Ghana (2019), the lack of comprehensive knowledge on HIV in the 15 to 24 age group is a current challenge (2019). This lack of knowledge in the youth is a motivation for the government to take stronger efforts to help prevent HIV in the future to both the older and younger generations. To see reductions in developing countries such as Ghana gives a sense of hope for other countries who are wanting to do the same.
References:
Government of Ghana. (2019). Ghana makes progress in efforts to end HIV/AIDS. Retrieved from: http://ghana.gov.gh/index.php/media-center/news/2841-ghana-makes-progress-in-efforts-to-end-hiv-aids
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteHIV is a very dangerous disease and it makes me sad to see 270,000 people in Ghana are living with this. I think that this puts so many people in the country at risk of getting this disease as well. Their efforts to make a difference is very beneficial to the country and their partnership with the UNAIDS has definitely given them lead way in the reduction of these numbers. The year of 2030 seems drastically far away but with the constant efforts this goal may be met sooner than later.
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI was unaware that HIV/AIDS transmission was down by 57% in Ghana. That is amazing. It goes to show that education and prevention materials are key to keeping people healthy. It is upsetting to see that young children are most at risk because of their mothers. I am glad to see that the education being provided is helping people to understand the dangers of disease contraction, and I am glad they are providing information on how to prevent disease with the distribution of condoms and emphasizing the importance of clean needles. Ghana has also “Adopt[ed] [the] “treat all” [which] requires strengthening the country’s health systems to link and track HIV positive clients so they can be immediately put on treatment” (Ali et. al, 2019). This program aims to make sure all HIV patients are getting necessary treatment and tracking the transmission of the disease. Ali et. al (2019) also discuss that the program can help to reduce the number of patients with HIV but acknowledges the fact that it is not bulletproof. It talks about how the numbers being reported can be under or over reported and that they hope to get as accurate of readings as possible.
References:
Ali, H., Amoyaw, F., Baden, D., Durand, L., Bronson, M., Kim, A., … Swaminathan, M. (2019). Ghana’s HIV epidemic and PEPFAR’s contribution towards epidemic control. Ghana Medical Journal, 53(1), 59. doi: 10.4314/gmj.v53i1.9
I had no idea that Ghana was doing this or how successful they were! It's amazing how many people's lives will be saved by this program. While HIV is very much treatable here in America, I'm sure it is more difficult in other countries and the best treatment is prevention. Thank you for your post!
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