Bolgatanga, Jan. 10, GNA – The Bolgatanga Municipality in the Upper East Region remains a hotshot for HIV infection in the Region, health experts have said.
Mr Sulemana Majeed, Regional HIV Coordinator, who disclosed this at a media briefing, said, “Bolgatanga has always been above the national figure, which calls for an increase sensitization and education.”
The media engagement was part of a series of activities by the GHS and the Ghana AIDS Commission to solicit the support of journalists to increase public awareness on HIV and help prevent, control and manage the spread of the virus among the public.
Mr Majeed said the Regional figure for HIV infection was 1.9 per cent and noted that the disease was gradually becoming more urbanised with lots of population influx with activities, including commercial sex activities at certain areas within the Bolgatanga township.
He underscored that the HIV area of interest was not static and curious to specific regions in the Region yet had throughout the years swung among the Districts, adding that Navrongo in the Kassena-Nankana Municipality used to be an area of interest.
“It moved to Sandema in the Builsa North Municipality for around five years and to the Bolgatanga Municipality. So assuming you go by the HIV Sentinel Survey (HSS) information, Bolgatanga will be considered as our area of interest,” the HIV Coordinator said.
He said per the HSS locales of HIV commonness, the Bolgatanga Municipality recorded increments from 2.8 percent in 2018 to 3.6 percent in 2019, and demonstrated that however there was a decline to 2.6 percent in 2020, the predominance rate was still high in the Bolgatanga Municipality.
He said Navrongo recorded a steady figure of 1.6 percent in 2017 and 2018 separately, with increments to 2.0 percent in 2019, and 2.2 percent in 2020, while the Builsa North Municipality saw a predictable increment from 1.0 percent in 2017 to 1.1 percent in 2018 and from 1.2 percent in 2019 to 1.3 percent in 2020.
The circumstance, he noted, was not diverse in the Bawku Municipality as it similarly recorded increments from 0.4 percent in 2017, to 0.6 percent in 2018, 1.2 percent in 2019 and 1.3 percent in 2020.
On the quantity of positive HIV cases per populace, Mr Majeed said the initial five area of interest Districts were Nabdam, Bolgatanga East, Builsa North, Bongo and Bolgatanga Municipality.
Nabdam District, he said recorded 214 HIV cases for each populace, “So per each 100,000 populace in Nabdam, 214 of them would be HIV positive, Bolgatanga East is 175, Builsa North is 152, Bongo 149 and Bolgatanga Municipality is 112 for every 100,000 populace.”
Dr Josephat Nyuzaghl, Deputy Regional Director of the GHS responsible for Public Health, approached columnists, particularly broadcast writers at different radio broadcasts across the Region, to help the Health Directorate to instruct and build consciousness of HIV among individuals from people in general to shorten the spread.
Source: gna.org.gh
