Tema Tops In HIV/AIDS...

The Tema Metropolis tops in the Greater Accra Region in HIV/AIDS with 3.5% prevalence rate for 2012. The last time the metropolis� HIV prevalence rate got to 3.6% was in 2006 and it reached a record 4% in 2009. The 2012 HIV prevalence record puts Tema and the Eastern Region in the same bracket as the most unsafe areas in the country. HIV prevalence records available at the Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate�s office indicate that the metropolis recorded 2.8% prevalence in 2010 and 2.2% prevalence in 2011. Age group of between 20 and 39 years were the most affected in the 3.6% in 2012 HIV prevalence. Nonetheless, records as at June 2013 indicate that out of 7,397 anti-natal registrants counseled, 3,984, representing 54%, were tested and 77, representing 1.9%, were positive and 49, representing 64%, of infected persons were put on Anti-Retroviral (AVR) treatment. To prevent mother-to-child transmission, pregnant women who tested positive were placed on treatment and observed till delivery. For instance, the Tema Metro Health Directorate records show that 47 infants born in June had been put on AVR treatment, and tests conducted on 55 babies of HIV positive pregnant women between six weeks and 18 months proved negative. A source at the Metro Health Directorate mentioned the need for expansion to accommodation the ever-inadequate supply of test kits and the lack of trained staff for adherence counseling as some of the challenges the outfit was faced with in its hope to improve on its service. The challenges notwithstanding, the source disclosed that the directorate would be rolling out community programmes in which it would attach Community Health Nurses to electoral areas to deliver a package of interventions, including education of households on HIV and its prevention.