These special clinics include nutritional rehabilitation, STI and dermatology clinic, and these strategies are expected to maximize provider initiated testing within health facilities in the country under the ‘treat all’ policy adopted in 2016.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Pd51qpCLIdmVuezot3C4T4a0jxYqwffD”]The 90-90-90 targets that by 2020, 90 per cent of people living with HIV should be aware of their status, 90 per cent of all Persons Living with HIV (PLHIV) receive ART, and 90 per cent of people on ART achieving viral suppression within 12 months.

According to a statement signed by Dr. Anthony Nsiah-Asare, Director-General, GHS, “these targets indicate a rapid scale-up between 2017 and 2020, as a critical opportunity to lay the foundation to end the AIDS epidemic in 2030”.

The statement urged all facilities to utilize the pediatric HIV formulations instead of breaking up adult tablets to children, and cautioned that “this is not and should not be construed as an endorsement of coercive or mandatory HIV testing” adding that, it was in the interest of achieving the targets set to end the AIDS epidemic.

The statement noted that, the “treat all” policy require that viral load measurement is used in monitoring HIV clients on treatment, therefore facilities should engage the district health administrations through the district HIV focal persons for sample transport to the regional testing site and result transmission to request facilities.

The statement added that, additional commodities had been made available at the Regional Medical Stores (RMS), to support the policy, and urged managements of the RMSs and health facilities across the country to strategize to implement the policy.

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Source: GNA

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Superintendent of Prisons, Cephas Nuwordu said more should be done to meet the nutritional requirements of the patients.

He complained that the current food ration given to them was insufficient, rendering those living with the disease weak and sickly after taking their anti-retroviral drugs.

Supt Nuwordu, who is the officer in-charge of the Kumasi Central Prison Infirmary, also noted that people put on the life-time therapy required a special diet to keep their vital organs and boost their immunity – to suppress the virus.

This, he added, was the way to assist prolong their lives.

There are currently 24 prisoners on antiretroviral therapy (ART) at the facility and he said they had always been complaining of hunger.

“They have been crying for food all the time. They need to take in more fruits and eat their food whilst hot, but they are not getting this.”

Supt Nuwordu said things must change to give the patients, some of them are doing between 16 and 35 years, a chance to live longer.

He mentioned huge unpaid health bills as the other major worry as the hospitals were getting increasingly reluctant to treat sick prisoners.

There is also the added challenge of overcrowding at the prison, something that is making it difficult for tuberculosis (TB) control.

TB cases there rose from 12, in year 2015, to 31, in 2016.

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Source:GNA

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According to officials of the National HIV control programme, there has been an increase in the Antenatal care (ANC) prevalence rate among pregnant women in the country, which stood at 1.6 – 1.8 in 2014 but has risen to 2.4 in 2016.

[contextly_sidebar id=”vabDlvk15qaOl9xIHU5yxK1bIkSXSKbh”]In an interview with Citi News, the Programs Manager for the National HIV control program Dr Stephen Ayisi Addo attributed the increase of prevalence rate to complacency among Ghanaians.”

“We have noticed that the prevalence rate among pregnant women is increasing this means there is something happening as far as new infections are concerned but if you take the general population is still 1.6. Amongst people who are high risk, like men who have sex with men, is over 17 percent.”

“Female sex workers, because of the nature of their work is about 6 percent. We noticed that the increase is about the fact that now people have become complacent thinking that HIV is no more formidable or it is not even there again and it is not serious but the issue is very serious.”

“We have also realized that condom utilization has also reduced significantly over the past 3 to 4 years and even with the female condoms it is not patronized at all and it’s also a reason for the increase.”

“Because of all these, we are introducing different initiatives as we want to intensify the provider initiative testing and counselling which will help us achieve the (9090) target. The first 90 is to make sure that about 90 people know their status and to do this you need to test the people but you can’t just be testing anybody so the attention Will be on people who are likely to be positive so that we get them on treatment,” he added.

Dr Stephen Ayisi then advised Ghanaians to visit health centres to know their status and seek early treatment and also prevent the further spread of the virus.
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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The deputy Chief of Missions of U.S. Embassy, Melinda Tabler Stone lauded government’s successful adoption of the “Treat All” policy, which allows all patients testing HIV positive to be enrolled on treatment right away when she paid a courtesy call on the Eastern Regional Minister, Eric Kwakye Darfour.

“Over the past decade, the U.S. government and the government of Ghana have partnered to improve the health of Ghanaians and the U.S.government is excited that the Ghana government has successfully adopted the “Treat All” policy in October 2016.”

“It is also exciting to see that the implementation of the new policy has been expanded from the four priority regions (Ashanti, Eastern, Greater Accra and Western ) where the disease burden is highest in the remaining six regions.”

She also promised continuous support from the U.S. government to help eradicate the endemic disease, “as Ghana gears up for the 2018- 2020 global fund implementation phase, PEPFAR Ghana stands ready to provide technical support to help guide the National HIV response on its path towards epidemic control by 2020.”

Mr. Darfour appealed for further support and collaboration to reach all with the education on HIV/AIDS most importantly in the rural communities as the prevalence rate among pregnant women is on the rise.
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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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He was one of 18 people in a small trial testing injections of “broadly neutralising antibodies” – the natural weapons of the immune system.

They delayed the resurgence of the virus in other participants by around two weeks.

The findings are being presented at the ninth International Aids Society Conference on HIV Science in Paris.

The human body is inefficient at making antibodies that neutralise HIV.

Only one in five people infected with the virus develops them – and even then it takes many years and high levels of uncontrolled virus.

But more than 200 broadly neutralising antibodies have been documented, which doctors hope could be useful for both preventing and treating HIV.

Antibody infusion

The trial in Thailand, led by the US Military HIV Research Program (MHRP), took people who were controlling their infection with their standard HIV medication.

Some were given no treatment and others had an infusion of the antibody – codenamed VRC01 – into their bloodstream.

Inevitably the virus came back in those getting no treatment. It took an average (median) of 14 days, at which point they were put back on antiretroviral therapy.

In those receiving the antibody it took 26 days.

Dr Jintanat Ananworanich, one of the MHRP scientists, said there was also the exceptional case.

She told the BBC News website: “[The patient] has been off treatment for around 10 months and has so far controlled the virus to very low levels.”

He had the antibody infusion every three weeks for six months.

The field is still at an incredibly early stage, but the results point to the potential of antibody-based therapies.

Dr Ananworanich added: “It suggests there’s some impact from the antibody, but how the antibody actually impacts the virus and the immune system – that’s an on-going investigation.

“I do think antibody therapy has potential because the antibody, in the future, could perhaps be given just two or three times a year.”

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Source: BBC

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A nine-year-old infected with HIV at birth has spent most of their life without needing any treatment, say doctors in South Africa.

The child, whose identity is being protected, was given a burst of treatment shortly after birth.

They have since been off drugs for eight-and-a-half years without symptoms or signs of active virus.

The family is said to be “really delighted”.

Most people need treatment every day to prevent HIV destroying the immune system and causing Aids.

Understanding how the child is protected could lead to new drugs or a vaccine for stopping HIV.

The child caught the infection from their mother around the time of birth in 2007. They had very high levels of HIV in the blood.

Early antiretroviral therapy was not standard practice at the time, but was given to the child from nine weeks old as part of a clinical trial.

Levels of the virus became undetectable, treatment was stopped after 40 weeks and unlike anybody else on the study – the virus has not returned.

Early therapy which attacks the virus before it has a chance to fully establish itself has been implicated in child “cure” cases twice before.

The “Mississippi Baby” was put on treatment within 30 hours of birth and went 27 months without treatment before HIV re-emerged in her blood.

There was also a case in France with a patient who has now gone more than 11 years without drugs.

Dr Avy Violari, the head of paediatric research at the Perinal HIV Research Unit in Johannesburg, said: “We don’t believe that antiretroviral therapy alone can lead to remission.

“We don’t really know what’s the reason why this child has achieved remission – we believe it’s either genetic or immune system-related.”

‘Virtual cure’

Some people are naturally better at dealing with an HIV infection – so-called “elite controllers”. However, whatever the child has is different to anything that has been seen before.

Replicating it as a new form of therapy – a drug, antibody or vaccine – would have the potential to help other patients.

It is worth noting that while there is no active HIV in the child’s body, the virus has been detected in the child’s immune cells.

HIV can hide inside them – called latent HIV – for long periods of time, so there is still a danger the child could need drug treatment in the future.

The team in Johannesburg performed the study alongside the UK’s MRC Clinical Trials Unit.

‘One child’

Prof Diana Gibbs, who is based in London, told the BBC News website: “It captures the imagination because you’ve got a virtual cure and it is exciting to see cases like this.

“But it is important to remember it is one child.

“HIV is still a massive problem around the world and we mustn’t put all our eyes on to one phenomenon like this, as opposed to looking at the bigger issues for Africa.”

Worldwide, 36.7 million people are living with HIV and only 53% of them are receiving antiretroviral therapy.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said: “Further study is needed to learn how to induce long-term HIV remission in infected babies.

“However, this new case strengthens our hope that by treating HIV-infected children for a brief period beginning in infancy, we may be able to spare them the burden of lifelong therapy and the health consequences of long-term immune activation typically associated with HIV disease.”

The results are being presented at the IAS Conference on HIV Science.

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Source: BBC

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Dolutegravir (DTG), which was first approved in the US in 2013, is being given to 20,000 patients in Kenya before being rolled out in Nigeria and Uganda later this year with the backing of global health initiative Unitaid.

Kenyan patient Doughtiest Ogutu, who started taking the drug earlier this year because of resistance to other treatments, says her appetite is back: “I had constant nightmares and no appetite. My appetite has come back… My body is working well with it.”

MsOgutu, who has been living with HIV for 15 years, said her viral load – the amount of HIV in her blood – has fallen tenfold from 450,000 to 40,000 since she started on DTG.

Unitaid is working to bring the drug to market quickly and to reduce manufacturing costs by allowing generic companies to access patents for a small royalty and produce them cheaply for the developing world.

About 1.5 million Kenyans are HIV positive, with more than two-thirds on treatment according to the National AIDS and STI Control Program.

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Source: BBC

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Twenty-year-olds who started antiretroviral therapy in 2010 are projected to live 10 years longer than those first using it in 1996, it found.

Doctors say that starting treatment early is crucial to achieve a long and healthy life.

Charities say there are still too many people unaware they have the virus.

More effective prevention

The study authors, from the University of Bristol, said the extraordinary success of HIV treatments was a result of newer drugs having fewer side effects and being better at preventing the virus from replicating in the body.

It is also more difficult for the virus to build up a resistance to the most recent drugs.

Improved screening and prevention programmes and better treatment of health problems caused by HIV are thought to have helped, too.

But many people with HIV still do not live as long as expected, especially those infected through injecting drugs.

Antiretroviral therapy involves a combination of three or more drugs which block the normal progress of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus).

They have been called “one of the greatest public health success stories of the past 40 years”.

Drugs ‘do work’

Jimmy Isaacs, 28, discovered he had been infected with HIV by a former partner nearly three years ago.

He takes three drugs once a day at 18:00 and will continue to do so for the rest of his life.

“My health is absolutely fine. I’m eating healthily and drinking healthily,” he said.

“It doesn’t impact on my job and hasn’t impacted on my social life either.”

Although it took two changes of medication to find the right combination for him, he says he now has no side effects at all.

“I had heard a lot of bad stories about the drugs back in the ’90s – but when I did some research, I realised the drugs had completely changed.”

Not all his employers have been supportive since his diagnosis and he says that is down to ignorance.

His current employer has given him time off to tour the country and speak to students and school pupils about HIV prevention and treatment.

The researchers looked at 88,500 people with HIV from Europe and North America who had been involved in 18 studies.

They based their life-expectancy predictions on death rates during the first three years of follow-up after drug treatment was started.

They found that fewer people who started treatment between 2008 and 2010 died during this period compared with those who began treatment between 1996 and 2007.

The expected age at death of a 20-year-old patient starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) after 2008, with a low viral load and after the first year of treatment, was 78 years – similar to the general population.

What is antiretroviral therapy?

Image copyrightSCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

• First used in 1996, it involves a combination of three or more drugs that stop the HIV virus from replicating
• This means damage to the immune system caused by HIV can be prevented and it stops the disease spreading to others
• More recent drugs are even more efficient and have fewer side effects
• The World Health Organization recommends that antiretroviral therapy is started as soon as possible after diagnosis

Dr Michael Brady, medical director at the Terrence Higgins Trust, said the study showed how much things had changed since the start of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s.

But he said it also meant people aged over 50 now represented one in three of all those living with HIV.

“As it stands, the healthcare, social care and welfare systems simply aren’t ready to support the increasing numbers of people growing older with HIV.

“We need a new model of care to better integrate primary care with HIV specialist services, and we need a major shift in awareness and training around HIV and ageing, so that we’re ready to help older people live well in later life,” he said.

‘Medical achievement’

Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, who chairs the Royal College of GPs, said: “It’s a tremendous medical achievement that an infection that once had such a terrible prognosis is now so manageable, and that patients with HIV are living significantly longer.

“We hope the results of this study go a long way to finally removing any remaining stigma associated with HIV, and ensuring that patients with HIV can live long and healthy lives without experiencing difficulties in gaining employment and – in countries where it is necessary – obtaining medical insurance.”

She said steps were being taken to increase appropriate HIV testing by GPs.

The proportion of people with undiagnosed HIV has fallen steadily over the past 20 years.

But one in eight people with HIV is still thought to remain undiagnosed.

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Source: BBC

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Mr Kwame Koomson, HIV Data Officer at the Hospital, made this known at Half Assini during a free blood screen exercise organized by Western Regional Network of Association of People Living with HIV (NAP+Ghana).

He said the situation was worrying and that in 2014 only 22 cases were recorded in the area only for it to go up to 119 cases this year.

Ms Patience Kwofie, In-charge of HIV Testing and Counselling of the Hospital, advised the public to check their HIV status at least every three months and urged them to adhere to HIV counselling to either avoid getting re-infected or spreading the menace.

Mr Thomas Kwamenlah, Chairman of NAP+Ghana, said the network has embarked on a Community Services Strengthening (CSS) in Half Assini area, to reach out to communities with medical services and to educate them on the need to check their HIV status.

Mr Thomson Kwamenlah said the Network in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission and with funds from GlobalAID normally conducted free blood screening exercise for the people and those who tested positive are referred to the hospital for the necessary assistance.

He explained that the programme dubbed “Operation 90,90,90” started early this year and has so far covered Ahanta East and West, Sekondi /Takoradi, Tarkwa, Enchi, Wassa Akropong and Ellembele Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs).

He said under the programme the Ghana Aids Commission was targeting to put 90 Percent of people who tested positive for HIV on anti-retroviral drugs so as reduce the rate of infection in future.

Mr Kwamenlah said the programme was being organised in selected regions across the country including Ashanti, Central, Greater Accra and Western.

He said a similar programme had already been held at Tikobo No.1 in the Jomoro District but expressed concerned about the low turn-out at the Programme at Half-Assini despite adequate publicity on it.

The Regional Chairman announced that enough anti-retroviral drugs have been made available to Half-Assini Government Hospital and hinted that the Commission would soon train CHPS Compound attendants to handle HIV/AIDS cases.

In all About 150 people including children were screened.

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Source: GNA

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The 90-90-90 target outlined in the plan requires that 90 per cent of people living with HIV would get to know their status, while the 90 per cent who know their status would receive sustained anti-retroviral treatment and the 90 per cent of people receiving treatment would achieve suppressed viral load.

Dr Angela El-Adas, the Director General of the Commission, said GAC had made remarkable strides towards the eradication of HIV/ AIDS through advocacies, campaigns and health education, receiving huge backing from government and development organisations, including the United Nations Development Project.

The Director-General was speaking at the 12^th Annual Partnership Forum and Business Meeting, organised by the Commission, on Tuesday.

The meetings was on the theme: “National Strategic Plan 2016-2020: Sustainable Partnership and Resource Mobilisation towards achieving 90-90-90.”

“This year’s theme depicts Ghana’s commitment towards attaining the global long -term goal to end AIDS by 2030, firstly by accelerating to the 2020 fast-track targets,” Dr El-Adas said.

The Commission’s partnership with stakeholders could speed up Ghana’s efforts to achieve the global Sustainable Development Goals on Combating the Epidemic.

“If we are to propel Ghana’s HIV response to model status once again and provide treatment for all, a partnership is prudent,” she said, “Innovation, for sustainable financing, by the GAC and our partners is necessary.”

The Commission said there had been a significant decline in trends in disease indices and improved health conditions of persons diagnosed with the HIV.

The strategic plan consists of a “Treat All” policy, which serves as a catalyst to ensure the smooth implementation of the 2016-2020 Strategic Plan.

Dr Nii Moi Thompson, the Chairman of the National Development Commission, lauded government’s contributions towards championing the HIV campaign initiative.

“Government recognises Ghana’s ability to create, retain and develop as dependents on the health its people,” he said.

“It therefore continues to fund prudent initiatives to combat epidemics like HIV/AIDS.”

Dr.Thompson said the theme was a clarion call for strengthening commitment and responsibility of all stakeholders and urged civil society organisations to partner the Commission to help implement the strategic plan.

The 2016 partnership has seen financial commitments from government, Joint United Nations Team on AIDS, Global Fund, United States Government and GIZ.

Source: GNA

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