The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) has inaugurated the Metropolitan Committee of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), with a call on members to help accelerate efforts towards ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

Members of the Committee comprise Hon. Michael Kpakpo Allotey, Mayor of Accra, Dr Louisa A. Matey, Metro Director for Health, Mr Richard Agodzo, representative of the Network of Associations of Persons Living with HIV and Mr Samuel Owiredu, representative of a civil society organisation working on HIV and AIDS.

The rest are Rev. Reuben Gaskin, Christian group representative; Alhaji Ibrahim Kofi Bruce, representative of the Federation of Muslim and Ahmadiyya Mission, Nuumo Niikoi Amasah II, representative of the Traditional Council; Mrs Justine Ivy-Apawu, Metro Director of Education; and Ms Christiana Akonnor, Metro HIV Focal Person.

The newly sworn-in members were expected to perform, at the metropolitan level, the functions of the Ghana AIDS Commission and the Regional Coordinating Council in relation to HIV and AIDS.

The Mayor of Accra, Hon. Michael Kpakpo Allotey, in a remark, said the inauguration of the Accra Metropolitan Committee was not just a statutory requirement but a clear signal of the city’s resolve to confront HIV and AIDS decisively at the local level.

He noted that Ghana’s HIV response had evolved from a purely health-sector-led effort to a multi-sectoral, rights-based and development-oriented agenda, and indicated that the AMA fully embraced its responsibilities under the Ghana AIDS Commission Act, 2016 (Act 938).

He said the AMA would work with the committee to expand testing and counselling, especially in high-risk and hard-to-reach communities, and to ensure that all those who tested positive were linked to quality treatment and care without delay.

He expressed concern about stigma and discrimination, pointing out that many people still suffered in silence because of fear, misinformation and prejudice, and called on faith-based organisations, traditional leaders, youth groups, women’s associations, as well as the media to help end stigma, stressing that no one should be denied dignity, services or opportunities because of their HIV status.

Mr Derick Oppong-Agyare, in a remark on behalf of the Director-General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Dr Kharmacelle Prosper Akanbong, explained that Ghana’s HIV and AIDS response had evolved significantly since the epidemic was first detected in 1986, stressing that the inauguration of the AMA body was in fulfilment of the key provisions of the law regarding the establishment of Metropolitan Committees.

He indicated that in the early years the response was driven largely by the health sector, but changing dynamics of the epidemic led to the establishment of the Ghana AIDS Commission under the Ghana AIDS Commission Act, 2002 (Act 613), with a multi-sectoral mandate to coordinate the national response, adding that in 2016 Act 613 was repealed and replaced with the Ghana AIDS Commission Act, 2016 (Act 938), which introduced several innovations, including stronger safeguards for the rights of persons living with HIV, establishment of an HIV and AIDS Fund and enhanced mechanisms for resource mobilisation.

Touching on national targets, Mr Oppong-Agyare said the Ghana AIDS Commission had adopted Sustainable Development Goal 3, which includes ending AIDS by 2030, and had committed to the ambitious 95-95-95 fast-track targets.

He explained that the targets required that by 2025, 95 per cent of all people infected with HIV know their status, 95 per cent of those diagnosed be on sustained antiretroviral therapy, and 95 per cent of those on treatment achieve viral load suppression, adding that achieving these goals was critical to positioning the country to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

He disclosed that the government was working assiduously to establish a national HIV and AIDS Fund to ensure that the response became financially independent and sustainable in the face of dwindling donor support, while urging members of the committee and stakeholders present to support the government’s efforts to meet the national targets.

Providing an overview of the epidemic, he stated that the estimated adult national HIV prevalence currently stood at 1.49 per cent, with the number of people living with HIV and AIDS estimated at 334,721.

The inauguration ended with a free HIV screening exercise for staff and residents.