Local pharmaceutical companies have benefited from Government funding amounting to Gh¢50 million to manufacture Anti-Retroviral Drugs (ARVs) in the country.
This was announced by President John Mahama when he delivered the State of the Nation Address to Parliament on Tuesday.
In the Address which was originally scheduled for last week Thursday, February 20, the President said this was one of the major steps taken by the government to reduce the HIV and AIDS infection rate among the population and to save many more lives.
At a high-level meeting of the UNAIDS and Lancet Commission in London recently, the President strongly called for assistance for developing nations including Ghana to be assisted in producing ARVs medications locally. The government, he said, was committed to awareness creation which was the best form of influencing attitudinal change among the sexually active population.
President Mahama announced that government would construct 1,600 Community-based Health Planning Services (CHIPS) compounds across the country by 2016, as part of efforts to improve basic health care in rural areas and peri-urban towns.
He said the government was committed to pursuing the vision of bringing quality healthcare to the doorstep of people irrespective of their geographical location
In line with the measures to revitalise the CHPS, President Mahama directed District Chief Executives (DCEs) to take direct control of the programme and ensure that the CHPS is implemented.
The financing required to support the programme would come from the 10 per cent cut in salaries of top government appointees to help reduce maternal and infant mortalities because.
The CHPS is a follow up to a research project that was carried out in the Kasena Nakena District in the Upper East Region from 1994-1998.
The research, referred to as the Navrongo Experiment, tested four different strategies on how to deliver services to rural communities in an effective, efficient and affordable manner.