Lydia Kukua Asamoah, GNA
Accra, Aug. 18, GNA –
The Reverend John Azumah, an HIV Ambassador with the Ghana Aids Commission
(GAC), has called for a holistic system of care for the over 38,000 Ghanaian
children who are currently living with HIV in the country.
He said many of these
children who are living with their grandmothers, caregivers and other relatives
as well as in a few orphanages, lack adequate care in the areas of proper
monitoring of the intake of their antiretroviral drugs, regular medical
check-ups, proper food intake and the essential multivitamins needed as
supplements to the Antiretroviral drug.
Rev Azumah, who is
also the founder of the Motherly Love Orphanage located at Kwabenya in Accra,
made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on Friday when he
received on behalf of the Orphanage, a donation of food items and some
toiletries donated by the David Owusu Ministries (DOM), an International and
Inter-Denominational Organization, Head quartered in London, United Kingdom.
The food items
included bags of rice, gari, beans, maize, sugar, cartons of biscuits, some
soft drinks, detergents and toiletries, and it was presented by Prophet David
Owusu, President of DOM, together with Ms Marie-Paulie Owusu, Administrator of
the DOM Ghana.
Rev Azumah thanked
Prophet Owusu and his team, for showing the act of love for the 32 orphans in
his care, 70 per cent of whom are living with HIV while the other 30 per cent
are without HIV infection but are affected by the passing way of their parents
through AIDS.
He said because many
of the HIV infected and affected children were living with their grandmothers
and also face stigmatisation, their care was not properly being monitored.
“Many of them don’t
take the antiretroviral drug consistently and develop drug resistance, some of
them are not taken for regular check ups’ and the health system also lack
adequate mechanisms for proper follow ups.
“This is leading to
the deterioration in the health of some of the children and even death of a
number of them, who most of the time do not understand why they should take
medicine every day of their lives”, Rev Azumah said.
According to the HIV
Ambassador, the issue of acceptance of the HIV affected children in homes was
still a problem, and therefore the need to intensify education that would
“kill” the stigma surrounding living with such children.
Rev Azumah said
because of the dwindling donor support towards HIV activities in Ghana,
government had reduced the bit on education but rather prioritising the supply
of the antiretroviral medication which was very much needed to suppress the
virus in people.
While commending the government
for leading in the training of specialised health professionals who would be
ready to care for Persons living with HIV and AIDS across the country, Rev
Azumah said continuous education on ending stigma should be ongoing, without
which stigmatisation of persons would continue, and could lead to the spreading
of the disease.
He appealed to the
government to absorb the laboratory fees of children who visit the health
facilities for their regular lab test through the National health insurance
scheme.
He said a proper
mechanism should be put in place for the nurses to do follow ups on children
living with HIV, and make sure they were being monitored well as is done in the
cases of TB patients.
Rev Azumah also urged
the government to make adequate supply of the paediatric antiretroviral drugs
at the facilities all the time since the periodic shortages frustrate the
children and their care givers.
On his part, Prophet
Owusu commended Rev Azumah and his wife, Mrs Lydia Azumah, who are all living
with HIV for the past 18 years for taking upon themselves to provide a home for
the children.
He said the gesture
would not be a onetime activity but would be continued, while his Ministry
would help see some of the children through education.
He urged Christians to
follow their founder, Jesus Christ’s mandate of caring for the vulnerable and
poor in society, adding that “as Christians we all need to receive people, we
need to accommodate and be with such people so that they can also feel loved
and appreciated”.
Ms Owusu said the DOM
has five ministries namely; Missions, Media, Care, Publishing and Leadership
and Summits, and that it was under the DOM Care ministry, which feeds and
shelters the homeless, takes care of orphans, widows and widowers, as well as
gives free medical care to the less privileged across the globe that the items
were being presented to the Motherly Love Orphanage.
“We have already
carried out several of such activities in Kenya and the UK but in Ghana this is
the first of its kind.
“However, we intend to
carry out several activities not only in Motherly Love Orphanage but in other
orphanages and less privileged groups nationwide”, she noted.
Ms Owusu said “The
purpose of this visit is to fulfil the scriptures in James 1:27, ‘Pure,
unstained religion, according to God our Father, is to take care of orphans and
widows when they suffer and to remain uncorrupted by this world.
“We believe that this
activity will foster joy and confidence in these less privileged children”.
GNA