AIDS Commission calls for sustainable funding to meet global HIV target

The Director-General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Dr. Kyeremeh Atuahene, has emphasized the need for sustainable domestic financing to support the country’s efforts in meeting global targets for HIV and AIDS.

Speaking at the National HIV and AIDS Sustainability Dialogue, Dr Atuahene highlighted the importance of developing a national response action and roadmap to achieve the targets set for 2025 and 2030 while ensuring sustained impact beyond these dates.

The dialogue aimed to craft an investment case and establish sustainable funding mechanisms for HIV and AIDS in Ghana.

Dr Atuahene stressed the importance of sustained planning and investment case development to garner the necessary support for the cause, urging collaboration with organized labour, employers, and the private sector to contribute to the HIV fund.

He noted that the government alone cannot be the sole source of domestic resources for HIV financing, highlighting the active involvement of the private sector in funding HIV responses in many African countries.

Dr. Atuahene pointed out that the National Health Insurance is a significant funding source, but other avenues such as budgetary allocations outlined in Act 938 should also be explored to secure sustainable financing for HIV initiatives in Ghana.

“We continue to engage with the organized labour and employers, the private sector, to contribute to the HIV fund because we must have, you know, a burden share in this country so far as the HIV response is concerned. It’s not only Ghana where we are asking for this. In fact, many countries in Africa are doing that. They’ve done that for many years.

“I mean government is not the only source of domestic resources. It’s always a collaboration and partnership with the private sector. So in many countries in Africa, the privacy sector is actively involved in financing HIV. And so we have to work with the private -sector to ensure that we achieve a private-sector involvement in HIV financing in the country.”

Antiretrovirals Port Clearing

In another development, he expressed excitement regarding the clearance of anti-retroviral drugs that have been held at the port since July 2023.

He revealed that the Ministry of Health has provided assurances regarding the imminent resolution of the issue adding that, the delay in clearance amount to not solving issue of public health to the amicable way.

“We met the Ministry of Health to discuss this matter and we made it clear to them that it is really undermining the credibility and image of Ghana in the eyes of donor partners because all these donations are from the Global Fund, for which we are not paying a penny, and so why do we continue to have this situation on our hands? We put people’s lives at risk by sleeping on the job and I believe they will take the necessary action to ensure that it never occurs again” he indicated.