[ 2017-01-18 ]

New HIV infections high among middle class - Survey
New infections of HIV and AIDS among the middle
class and urban working population in Ghana are
increasing at an alarming rate and can lead to a
serious pandemic in the country, the Joint United
Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) in
Ghana has warned.

According to the Country Director of UNAIDS, Mr
Girmay Haile, data available indicate that the
situation portends a possible HIV/AIDS pandemic in
the country in the next few years if care is not
taken.

Mr Haile, who made this known in an interview with
the Daily Graphic, said: “the demography of
Ghana is rapidly becoming urban, with majority of
people living in urban centres, and HIV is
becoming an urban epidemic.”

Making reference to the Ghana Demographic and
Health Survey (DHS) 2014 of the Ghana Statistical
Service (GSS), Mr Haile said the data showed that
married couples and students, especially
university students, were the groups which had the
most unprotected sex but were unwilling to know
their HIV status.

The survey was conducted among people between 15
and 49 years.

It included a series of questions that elicited
information from respondents’ knowledge on HIV
prevention, awareness of modes of HIV transmission
and behaviours that could prevent the spread of
HIV.

Survey

Among the respondents, 78 percent of men and 52
percent of women had never been tested.

The survey showed that overall, one percent of the
women reported that they had had two or more
partners in the past 12 months, while among the
women who had two or more partners in the past 12
months, 11 percent reported using a condom during
their last sexual intercourse.

Fourteen percent of the men aged between 15 and 49
reported that they had two or more partners in the
past 12 months, while 19 per cent reported using a
condom during their last sexual intercourse.

HIV campaign

Mr Haile said due to the numerous campaigns on HIV
and AIDS, new infections among key populations,
including sex workers and truck drivers, had
reduced, while infections among the middle class
and urban professionals were rising at an alarming
rate.

The Country Director said unmarried professionals
and regular sex partners in urban centres were
among the high proportion of new infections.

“Today, we are seeing a high number of
despondent couples,” he said, adding that
“this same group has multiple sex partners
outside their marital homes.”

Making reference to how Nigeria had become the
second highest HIV prevalence in Africa after
South Africa, Mr Haile said for close to nine
years nobody had associated HIV with Nigeria, but
today the urban centres and cities were recording
the highest prevalence.

He said in Ghana, the UNAIDS started sounding the
alarm bells in 2013 about a possible outbreak of
the disease in the urban centres and cities but
much had not been done about it.

Source - Graphic Online.com

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