Ghanaians were yesterday hit with the news that the estimated national HIV prevalence (new cases) has risen from 1.7 per cent in 2008 to 1.9 per cent in 2009.
The report also indicates an increase in new cases among pregnant women who were tested at selected ante-natal clinics in the country.
The announcement, made at a forum in Accra to disseminate the results of the 2009 HIV Sentinel Survey (HSS), is a wake-up call.
The HSS, conducted annually, is a useful tool to observe trends, reinforce or increase the commitment to accelerate implementation and provide feedback for health workers, as well as local and international groups involved in AIDS prevention programmes.
That is why this country should not gloss over the rise in prevalence, however insignificant.
In the last five years, HSS data have been used as the primary data source for the national HIV and AIDS estimate in Ghana.
The trend clearly indicates that there is complacency among the Ghanaian populace. Over the years, public education has not manifested in behavioural change.
The 2008 Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) revealed that many Ghanaians still had multiple sexual partners. Perhaps people are now careless because they know that there is treatment.
We know how people indulge in alcoholism during funerals and other festivities which influences all kinds of risky behaviour.
The DHS also showed that in-depth knowledge of the transmission of HIV was low and that condom use, which is one of the main modes of protection against HIV infection, had reduced among females, who formed about 58 to 60 per cent of the HIV population, and stagnated among males. Only between seven and eight per cent of the youth population use condoms.
If only a small portion of the youth, who predominantly engage in multiple sexual relations, use condoms, it is not surprising that the prevalence is rising.
We also know, through the DHS, that less than 10 per cent of Ghanaians know their HIV status.
It is also a fact that people Living with HIV (PLHIV) now live longer because they have access to anti-retrovirals and their numbers, added to new infections, could also be the cause of the rise in prevalence.
The Daily Graphic believes that the development offers the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) the opportunity to take on board emerging issues arising out of the HSS and incorporate them into the national response.
Whatever the factors that have contributed to the increase, it is clear that more efforts will be required by all stakeholders to keep HIV prevalence on the decline, otherwise complacency will erode all the gains made over the years.
Fortunately, this information is out at a time when the GAC is starting a joint review of the five-year strategic framework which comes to an end this year. The results of this review will directly feed into the next five-year plan, 2011 to 2015.
Equally important is the role of our development partners which have signed various instruments, such as the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action, pledging to support the national response.
The Daily Graphic thinks that these partners need to remain focused in directing the needed resources towards addressing the gaps in the national response, such as human resource issues, particularly the deficiencies of civil society organisations working with the GAC.
All said and done, we must acknowledge that on the whole there is still a level of stability in HIV prevalence.
The Daily Graphic, therefore, calls on all Ghanaians to heed the education by public health officials in order to bring the prevalence rate down considerably.
We should avoid complacency.
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