The Ghana HIV and AIDS Network (GHANET) has welcomed President John Dramani Mahama’s commitment to addressing the shortfall caused by the USAID funding withdrawal.
GHANET has described the President’s message as reassuring and therapeutic.
In a statement, the network acknowledged that Mahama’s assurance during the State of the Nation Address(SONA) was the third time in two weeks.
The funding, as outlined in the USAID Foreign Assistance Discretionary Request Report, was meant to support key sectors such as health, economic growth, education, and governance.
Since 2007, Ghana has benefited from the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an initiative designed to combat HIV/AIDS and provide care for affected individuals.
With the latest funding cut, efforts to provide antiretroviral therapy, testing, and prevention programs will face significant challenges.
However, GHANET has expressed concern over the potential shortage of antiretroviral (ARV) medications, especially if the government takes full responsibility for procurement.
“This fear is heightened by recent happenings where even donated ARVs were nonchalantly abandoned at the ports for several months,” the statement said.
GHANET has therefore urged the government to operationalise the National HIV and AIDS Fund (NHAF), which was initiated in 2016 under the previous Mahama administration but stalled after a change in government.
The organisation emphasised that the absence of the fund had significantly affected HIV awareness campaigns, leading to a new generation with little knowledge of the disease.
“It therefore did not come as a surprise when the country recorded 17,700 new infections and 12,500 AIDS-related deaths in 2023 alone,” GHANET noted.
The group also called for local production of ART medications and HIV-related commodities, citing Ghana’s existing capacity for ARV manufacturing since 2005.
GHANET believes this could not only meet local demand but also serve neighbouring West African countries with high PLHIV populations.
The network has further appealed to the Ministers for Finance and Health to ensure that President Mahama’s commitment is reflected in the 2025 budget.
The group urged the government to fulfil the Abuja Declaration’s requirement for African nations to allocate at least 15% of their national budgets to health.
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