In light of an increase in HIV infections, the Ghana AIDS Commission has raised concern about the low condom use among sexually active individuals.
According to the Commission, gay sex is contributing to the rising number of HIV cases as most of them do not use condoms.
As disclosed by the Commission, in 2023, Ghana reported 17,000 new cases of HIV infection and 12,000 fatalities associated with the virus.
Dr. Stephen Ayisi Addo, the National AIDS Control Programme’s programmes manager, stated in an interview with JoyNews that gay sex is one of the causes leading to the growing rate of HIV infections, especially because it is a high-risk activity.
“Among men who have sex with men, the recent surveys that we did this year, for men who have sex with men it is 26%. Previously it was 18%. And then amongst transgender, now we have a population of about 4000, but the highest was 48%.”
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He made the observation that these groups act as “bridging populations,” allowing bisexual behavior to disseminate HIV to the larger community.
“For instance, if we take men who have sex with men, the survey we conducted shows that about 50% of them are young people who are bisexuals. So they may be sleeping with men but are also sleeping with women and those women have other partners and they continue to spread HIV. So, the reality is that HIV is an issue in Ghana. We have not ended it yet, it has not stopped and transmission is still occurring.”
According to Dr. Addo, education is necessary on the significance of condom use.
According to data from the Ghana Statistical Service, few people use condoms and few people are aware of some preventive education programs. “The youth of today do not know that HIV was a major issue of the past.”
“That’s complacency because people feel that now we don’t see the pictures of very sick people and very bad images of treatment. But remember 12,000 people died, which means that sadly and quietly without taking notice, people are succumbing to HIV.”
