Supplement donor support with AIDS Fund, GAC advised

Ghana’s HIV/AIDS Ambassador, Reverend John Kworshie Azumah, has charged the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) to, a as a matter of urgency, present to parliament documents of the bill on the proposed establishment of an AIDS Fund for consideration.

The bill, already drafted, has been at the commission for over six years but is yet to be presented to parliament for consideration.

When submitted and passed into law, it will ensure the establishment of an AIDS Fund to generate revenue to fund HIV/AIDS activities in the country.

Azumah said, the delay in presenting the documents of the bill to parliament for consideration is quite worrying, considering that the GAC requires resources to fund its HIV/AIDS activities to ensure the eradication of the disease by the 2030.

The HIV/AIDS ambassador said this in an interview with the Ghana News Agency, on the sidelines of an HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence sensitisation by the International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or personally affected by HIV and AIDS (INERELA+ Ghana) at Jamestown, in Accra.

Funded by the United Nations Women Trust Fund, the objective of the sensitisation was to create awareness on the prevalence of the disease, help fight stigmatisation and address issues of gender-based violence in the community.

Ghana is said to require US$132 million annually to fund HIV/AIDS activities and ensure the elimination of the disease by the set target.

However, the country is only able to mobilise US$45.2 million annually from donor partners, leaving a funding deficit of more than US$86 million.

Azumah stated that the establishment of the AIDS Fund will enable the commission to raise enough revenue to address the shortfall.

He said, “It is left with the Ghana AIDS commission to take this bill to parliament for the parliamentarians to approve and the president to accent, then, when we have the AIDS Fund and little money drops in, that can be used as domestic resource to supplement what the donor communities are giving us.

“Ghana is getting harder every day. There is no money, and the only way we can get there is to pass the AIDS fund bill. So, my question to the AIDS commission is, when are they going to pass this bill? What is preventing them from passing the bill?

“Funding will not come from heaven. Gone are the days when manna fell from heaven. So, we must put in every effort, anything preventing them, they should let us know so that this bill will get to parliament to approve it. [The] president will sign it and become a tax that people can drop in some money so that we can use it to supplement this deficit.”

Azumah, who has been living with HIV for more than two decades, said the recent surge of the virus in the country, especially among the younger population between age 16 and 24, must be a concern for all.

He urged the public to take the virus seriously, protect themselves to prevent further escalation.
Mercy Acquah-Hayford, the national coordinator, INERELA+ Ghana, was optimistic that the exercise will help to drastically reduce stigmatisation against persons living with HIV.

She also entreated persons living with the virus to religiously take the antiretroviral drug to reduce impact of the virus.

Paulina Essel, a certified counselling psychologist at the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice, also disclosed that over the last few months, there has been significant surge in the number of persons with psychological issues as a result of abuses.

She encouraged persons experiencing stress beyond their control to seek assistance rather than consider other options such as suicide.

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