Overview

Ghana's adult HIV prevalence has stabilized at 1.5 percent, according to its National HIV and AIDS, STI Policy. In recent years, the nation's HIV response has made progress toward achieving universal access to HIV and STI (sexually transmitted infection) services. Challenges remain, however, especially for members of key population groups. Prevalence among sex workers and men who have sex with men is estimated by the Ghana AIDS Commission to be close to 25 percent. This indicates a serious concentrated epidemic that is made worse by stigma and discrimination. At the health facility level, stigma-induced discrimination interferes with health access and delivery, and inhibits participation by at-risk community members in the care continuum that includes testing, treatment, links to other services, and sustained follow-up care.

In 2014, UNAIDS endorsed the World Health Organization's 90-90-90 targets. These targets call for the initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV (PLHIV) who have CD4 counts of ≤500 cells/mm3, as well as universal ART for children younger than five years of age. Ghana adopted this practice in 2015, having previously started ART treatment for those with ≤350 cells/mm3. This important policy change requires increased resources to meet a higher demand for drugs.

Publications

Health Policy Plus: Ghana

Presentations from the 2018 International AIDS Conference

Five Ways to Accelerate Progress Toward the 95-95-95 Goals

View all Ghana Publications

What We Do

HP+ works in collaboration with key stakeholders in the government, civil society, and elsewhere to strengthen the national HIV response.To support this work, we provide evidenced-based recommendations to reduce discrimination at the health facility level. We also generate cost estimates for policymakers to assess the budgetary implications of full implementation of new HIV treatment protocols.

With regard to stigma and discrimination, HP+ works to

• Improve access and quality of HIV care and treatment by using an evidence-based framework for reducing stigma-based discrimination within health facilities
• Collect data on the prevalence of discrimination among medical and non-medical staff at health facilities
• Conduct surveys of PLHIV and members of key populations to capture their experiences and perspectives on stigma and discrimination in the health system
• Provide baseline data to inform recommendations for activities tailored to reduce discrimination
• Create a framework to measure the impact of discrimination reduction at the facility level

With regard to financing, we

• Conduct strategic costing and policy analysis of the Ghana ART program to estimate costs associated with scaling up ART treatment by 2020; this includes provision of ART and supplies, human resource needs, supply chain costs, and clinical infrastructure and equipment
• Provide evidence to the National AIDS Control Program to assist them in meeting ART scale-up targets for testing, treatment, and retention