Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is currently on the rise in Ghana, and according to the Ghana AIDS Commission, over 100,000 persons in the country are HIV carriers but do not know.
Due to the stigmatization surrounding HIV, a lot of individuals are hesitant to go to health centres to get tested leaving most people ignorant of their status and spreading the virus with or without their knowledge.
The Ghana AIDS Commission has since then mounted an aggressive search for these 100,000 persons with HIV to bring them under treatment.
This, according to the commission, is the reason for the launch of the HIV self-test campaign.
Ghana on Wednesday, July 19, 2023 joined a growing list of countries in the sub-region who have rolled out the HIV Self-Testing (HIVST) equipment, one of the newest innovations in the range of strategies aimed at encouraging persons to know their HIV status.
Speaking on Joy Prime’s Prime Morning, the President of the Ghana HIV and AIDS Network (GHANET), Ernest Amoabeng Ortsin, and Deputy Programmes Manager of the National AIDS Control Programme, Dr. Anthony Ashinyo, demonstrated how the self-test kit can be used at home or any place of convenience to check one’s HIV status.
Dr Ashinyo thoroughly explained the guidelines to use the self-test kit. He cautioned persons to check for expiry dates on these kits to ensure they have not expired before using them.
He assured Ghanaians that the test is very sensitive and accurate.
Watch the video below:
