Ghana recorded only eight cases of guinea worm from January to June this year, with the hope that the country would soon be declared a guinea worm-free country.

According to the Ghana Health Service, more than 200 cases of the guinea worm infection were reported between January and June in 2009, as against eight recorded this year.

The former President of the United States of America, Mr Jimmy Carter, told the people of northern Ghana through a radio message that he was very optimistic Ghana could break the transmission of the guinea worm disease.

Mr Carter, whose Carter Centre is a major player in the Guinea Worm Eradication Programme (GWEP), said his optimism was derived from statistics provided from the Ghana Health Service and appealed to all residents in the northern part of Ghana to get involved in the eradication programme.

The former US President said, “We are now within reach of our collective goal of totally eradicating guinea worm disease. I would like to thank the Government of Ghana, the people of this great country and all partners for their collaboration and support in getting us where we are today”.

“I caution everyone that the battle against guinea worm is not over until every case has disappeared. It was in Ghana that I saw my very first case of guinea worm and I promise you that the Carter Centre and I would continue this battle with you until the very last case is gone,” Mr Carter added.

In a similar radio broadcast, the Minister of Health, Dr Benjamin Kunbour, implored Ghanaians to complement the government’s efforts towards the eradication of the disease.

He asked them to be on the look out for any suspected guinea worm case and report immediately to the healthcare centre for effective response.

Dr Kumbour pledged the government’s continuous support towards the eradication project and commended the partners for standing by the country during difficult times.

In 1989, when the eradication programme began, the country recorded 189,000 cases of guinea worm but the cases have been reduced by over 98 per cent through eradication efforts.

According to officials at the Guinea Worm Eradication Programme (GWEP) secretariat, the main issues that were likely to hinder the eradication programme were the threat posed by migrant populations and a cut in funding.

The migrant populations, they explained, were mostly unaware of measures instituted to curb the disease and therefore, sometimes acted in ways that were likely to expose them to the disease or spread the disease.

They also noted that funds were needed to continue implementing the control measures, which included provision of care, policing and treatment of dams, payment of staff and the provision of alternate and potable sources of water.


Story by Salifu Nurudeen/Daily Graphic/Ghana

Consultants in a joint review of the HIV/AIDS National Strategic Framework II (NSF) on Wednesday noted that even though Ghana had a stabilised generalised HIV epidemic, there were significant regional, district and community variations.

The current prevalence rate ranges between two percent in the Northern Region to 4.2 per cent in the Eastern Region and as low as 0.7 per cent in North Tongu District to 5.8 per cent in Agormanya and Koforidua.

Disseminating the report in Accra, a team of consultants led by Dr Hugues Lago reviewed NSF II on five thematic areas.

These are co-ordination and management of the decentralised multi-sectoral response; prevention and mitigation; treatment, care and support; research, surveillance, monitoring and evaluation; and policy, advocacy and enabling environment.

In 2005, Ghana AIDS Commission in collaboration with partners and representatives of key stakeholders agreed on the National Strategic Framework 2006-2010 (NSF II) and an accompanying Five-year Programme of Work, which provided the framework for national response from 2006 to 2010.

The framework (NSF II) was therefore designed to provide an overall planning guide for a vastly expanded effort to deal with the epidemic including improvements to the supporting environment.

It was also aimed at preventing infections, targeting behaviour change programmes to the population as well as specific vulnerable groups, treatment, care and support, and combating stigma and discrimination.

Dr Yao Yeboah, Consultant on Co-ordination and Management of Decentralised Multi-sectoral Response, said some of the key achievements were the significant reduction among the Most At Risk Population from 34.7 per cent in 2006 to 25 per cent in 2009 while there had been increase access on Prevention to Mother to Child Transmission from 36,155 in 2006 to 381,874 in 2009.

On key challenges, he noted that though there were significant increases in the number of persons accessing HIV prevention services, less than 90 per cent had ever tested for HIV and less than 30 per cent of women benefited from Mother To Child Transmission services.

He called for improved co-ordination and management at the district and community levels to ensure restructuring in the programme.

Dr Agnes Dzokoto, Consultant on Treatment, Care and Support said the study revealed an increase of Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) sites from 13 in 2005 to 138 in 2009 and those health systems had been strengthened through HIV treatment programmes.

She said though health systems had been strengthened through HIV treatment programmes some service providers expected extra funding for AIDS activities and were reluctant to implement activities without extra funding.

Dr Dzokoto noted that inadequate number and capacity of human resources had been some of the problems that deterred the commission's work.

She said only 50 per cent of women and 39 per cent of men who needed ART had access to the services and called for resource mobilisation for treatment after 2011 when funding for treatment which was donor dependent would not be available.

Dr Kwabena Poku, Consultant on Prevention and Mitigation said there has been high level government support such as World AIDS Day.

Dr Lago, Consultant on Policy, Advocacy and Enabling Environment said the commission had among other things entered into partnerships, established and strengthened relationship with key stakeholders like the media, parliamentarians, legal and human rights advocates.

He said although there was some level of political commitment and leadership, it was not fully translated into action.

"The degree of involvement of policy makers throughout the policy formulation and dissemination process is limited," he said.

Dr Lago said to ensure a sustained political and policy involvement, there was the need to create a policy forum for regular interaction with stakeholders and the revision of HIV related policy issues as a basis for policy promotion and enforcement.

On resource mobilisation, he said there was funding from different organisations like Government, the UN System and the Private Sector to support implementation of national HIV response.

Dr Lago said the National AIDS Spending Assessment (NASA) for 2007 and 2008 has been conducted and disseminated.

He said unequal level of understanding of funding modalities had been a problem affecting the project, adding that government had also failed to release funds early enough to support work at the regional and district levels.

Dr Lago called for increase in government funding from 10 to 15 per cent, alignment of funding to national priorities and conducting operational and actuarial studies.

The review team recommended that development of the National Strategic Plan 2011-2015 should take into account efforts to sustain and scale up the effective strategies and adequately address the challenges identified and the priorities proposed.

Source: GNA

A few weeks ago, I wrote here about our desperate need for new approaches to preventing the spread of AIDS. At the Women Deliver conference, I learned about a new way of looking at HIV prevention that may hold the key to reducing the number of new infections.

We can’t treat HIV with just one drug; we need combination therapy. Prevention needs the same approach. Combination prevention means using a wide range of HIV prevention efforts – from structural change to microbicides to education – and customizing a prevention plan for the local HIV situation.

There are a lot of different approaches that can be included in combination prevention. Treating HIV reduces viral load in people living with AIDS. New technology like microbicides can prevent HIV transmission in delivery mechanisms like gels, films, and vaginal rings. Male circumcision helps to reduce transmission of the HIV virus. Preventing mother-child transmission is an important prevention tool.

The positive prevention approach is another weapon in the combination prevention arsenal. It consists of HIV prevention designed from the perspective of people living with AIDS, and centered on their needs. It is a sex-positive approach and it includes providing HIV treatment, working to make sure people understand their risks, and supporting harm-reduction strategies like condom use. It focuses on delaying the progression of HIV and promoting shared responsibility from AIDS prevention.

Reducing the structural factors that cause HIV transmission is the final aspect of combination prevention. This doesn’t lead to immediate impact on HIV rates, but over time amplifies other prevention efforts. Structural approaches can reduce community vulnerability to HIV transmission.  Structural factors that lead to HIV transmission include women’s economic dependence on men, violence against women, and harmful societal norms around male-female relationships. Economic empowerment of women can free them from the need to engage in risky sexual behavior; so can protecting them from violence.

Combination prevention is a new way of looking at existing ideas in HIV prevention. Instead of comparing approaches and pitting them against each other for funding, they are combined for greater effectiveness. This might be the change we need.

Source :www.undispatch.com