Ghana cannot attain the goal of reducing new HIV infections by 50 per cent, eliminate mother to child transmission of the disease and optimize care for People Living with HIV and AIDS (PLWA), if elimination of HIV-related stigmatisation and discrimination is not prioritized.
Stigmatization and discrimination severely undermine HIV prevention efforts, and people are afraid to seek information about how to reduce risk of exposure to the disease, go for voluntary testing, and discourage PLWA from disclosing their HIV and AIDS status publicly.
Mr. Victor Ntumi, Executive Director of AFRIWEB Foundation, a health and livelihood non-governmental organisation (NGO), said these at an outreach programme at Adaklu Kodzobi in the Adaklu District at the weekend.
The event was organised by the NGO with support from Ghana Aids Commission and Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Ghana.
Mr Ntumy said discrimination and stigmatization were barriers to achieving universal fight against the spread of HIV and AIDS.
He said AFRIWEB Foundation was using churches and mosques to educate people on the dangers of discrimination and stigmatization of PLWA adding "we must show love and compassion to such people".
Mr Ntumy said about 2,000 people who randomly tested for AIDS and HIV voluntarily in the Ho Municipality lately, 20 of them tested positive.
He assured people who tested for the disease that results would be handled with the "greatest confidentiality".
Mr Ntumy assured PLWA that "it is not the end of the road for them" and asked them to go for antiretroviral therapy in the country.
He appealed to community and faith-based organisations and opinion leaders to champion the fight against discrimination and stigmatization of PLWA.
More than 100 people were later tested voluntarily for the disease.