Public Agenda (Accra)
Ama Achiaa Amankwah
3 October 2008
Persons infected / living with HIV and AIDS (PLWA) have appealed to the government, civil society organisations and individuals to assist them get access to Anti-Retroviral Drugs (ARD).
Currently, ARD is selling at ¢ 5 a month at which majority of the PLWA who are already impoverished are complaining that they cannot afford and are asking that the drugs should be subsidized or provided them freely.
Antiretroviral drugs are medications for the treatment of infection by retroviruses, primarily HIV. Currently ARD do not cure HIV infection, but they do prevent the development of AIDS.
They can stop the virus from being made in the body and this stops the virus from damaging the immune system, but these drugs cannot eliminate HIV from the body.
The PLWA made the appeal during a visit by some media personnel to the Atua Government Hospital (AGH), a pilot HIV & AIDS programme hospital in the Lower Manya Krobo District of the Eastern Region.
The trip was part of a three-day media training programme to equip female journalists with the necessary skills for effective reporting on HIV and AIDS and gender, organized by Women, Media and Change.
A stunning revelation was that HIV & AIDS is still real and that most of the PLWA are already impoverished with the disease worsening their plight.
Stigmatization and discrimination also remain a challenge in curbing HIV and AIDS in Ghana.
Even though the two have been identified as significant issues that have the capacity to undermine preventive and other control efforts, PLWA are still considered socially unacceptable.
Campaign messages have sought to encourage the populace to uphold the rights of PLWA since the disease is now regarded as any of the treatable chronic conditions like cancer, TB, hypertension and diabetes.
The journalists had a difficult time to interact with PLWA some of whom had gone for counseling and others to take their medication. They only agreed to speak to the journalists after several pleas on condition of anonymity and in private.
Because of stigmatization most of these people travel from their places of origin / residence to AGH and other places where treatment is non-existent.
One of the clients in an interview said she had been trekking from Accra to Atua periodically for the past four years. She finds that suitable since she is not known by anybody in the town.
One client recounted that she was trading in foodstuffs until she fell sick four years ago and was taken to her hometown near the hospital. She said it was during her visit to Atua Hospital that she tested positive to HIV.
For four years now, the only person she has been able to inform about her situation is her mother and her husband for fear of being rejected by other family members.
"Although my husband has been very supportive, sometimes I feel I am overburdening him as I am not able to engage in my economic activity. I feel weak anytime I try to work hard."
Majority of them could not also figure out how they got the disease. Contrary to perception that people get infected due to promiscuous lifestyles, clients at the AGH were sure they never engaged in such behaviours.
Madam Hannah Enninful, Principal Nursing Officer in Charge of Counseling and Testing at AGH was hopeful that with time the issue of stigma will go away.
Ms Enninful, who has been working at AGH for the past thirty years, said the HIV & AIDS programme commenced at the hospital in 2002. She recalled that initially people were not showing up so she and her colleagues took it upon themselves to embark on public education and sensitization.
"Along the line Family Health came in and together with some NGOs took up the education programme and attendance increased. Forty-two nurses were also trained as counselors," she disclosed.
After counseling and testing (CT), she said infected persons go through counseling thrice before being put on drugs. She noted that disclosure has been a difficult area so staff at the unit encourages clients to bring their partners.
Currently, 1,035 PLWA / clients are on ARD at the hospital, including children and about 10 pregnant women. About 65 to 70% are women.
She attributed the large number of women to the fact that women report to the hospital the earlier stages of the disease. She said some PLWA are admitted at the hospital depending on their condition.
According to her, the hospital is being supported by the National AIDS Control Programme and Catholic Relief Services to provide drugs and food supplement to clients since most them find it difficult to make ends meet.
Majority of the clients / PLWA were grateful to Ms Enninful and some of her staff for their immense support and advised the youth especially to take precautions.
Dr. Samuel Ofori, Eastern Regional HIV & AIDS Coordinator, noted that messages about prevention are not achieving the desired impact as the focus now is on care and treatment.
He stressed the need for the country to go back to highlight prevention to avoid increase in cases.
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