Persons Living with AIDS appeal for CD4 Regents

Persons Living with HIV (PLHIV) in the Eastern Region have appealed to the Ministry of Health for the supply of sufficient CD4 Regents to health facilities in the area.

Ms Beatrice Opokua, a PLHIV, made the appeal on behalf of members at a durbar at New Abirem to climax the week- long observation of World AIDS Day in the Eastern Region.

She said the CD4 regent is what is used to assess if a PLHIV could be placed on the anti-retroviral therapy.

Ms Opokua noted with regret that the CD4 regent had run short in many health facilities in the region for the past eight months.

She also appealed for the supply of more HIV testing kits to enable many people to know their HIV status.

Mr James Boamah, a Representative of the Ghana Coalition of Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Health, appealed for early disbursement of funds to the Ghana AIDS Commission to ensure that its programs in HIV prevention were not interrupted.

Ms Helen Ntoso, the Eastern Regional Minister, said in spite of the achievements of the region in reducing the HIV prevalence, much needed to be done to sustain the gains made so far.

The HIV prevalence of the region dropped from 7.9 in 2002 to 3.6 last year as against the national average of 2.1.

She said many PLHIV in the region continued to suffer from stigmatization and discrimination and called for investment in HIV prevention to scale up comprehensive services on the disease in the area.

The Chief of New Abirem, Nana Amoh Twiretwie, who chaired the function, called for the intensification of education on the use of the female condoms to enable women to use them to protect themselves from contracting HIV.

Source: GNA