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Young Health Advocates (YHAG), an association of young people living with HIV and AIDS in Ghana, has ended its first anniversary in Accra, calling for an end to the stigma against them.
The YHAG also called for the inclusion of the health needs of young people in national development planning for appropriate HIV care and services.
At a ceremony hosted by Hope for Future Generations (HFFG), a non-governmental organization in Accra on Wednesday, Ms Priscilla Ama Addo, YHAG’s national president, said the shortage of antiretrovirals and self-stigma, along with social stigma, they serve as barriers to accessing health care.
A report by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) indicates that of the 20,068 new HIV infections recorded in 2019, 5,613, or 28%, were between the ages of 15 and 24.
Also, not many young people living with HIV in Ghana take antiretroviral drugs.
The YHAG, therefore, was established under the guidance of the HFFG in February 2019, to provide young people living with HIV with a forum to voice their concerns and advocate for inclusion in their decision-making process. health, as well as being able to access necessary services.
Ms Addo said that before the formation of the YHAG, which started with 14 people and now had more than 300 people, in five regions, many of the young people lived in fear, isolation and self-stigma, “but now we have found friendship between us as we come together to talk, learn and share our experiences. “
She said that through the YHAG, members received psychosocial support and learned self-appreciation, adherence, and positive lifestyles, which had made them better people.
He said that many of the members had also lost one or both parents to HIV, and that the Association was taking care of them.
Ms. Cecilia Lodonu Senoo, Executive Director of HFFG, said that the YHAG training was made possible thanks to the support of the Global Fund to Fight HIV, Tuberculosis and Malaria through the main recipient, the West Africa Program to Combat the AIDS and STIs (WAPCAS).
“They are young people with great enthusiasm, who represent the future of the country, so they need to empower themselves to take the future in their hands,” he said.
Ms. Senoo congratulated the French Embassy in Ghana for donating ¢ 20,000 GH in cash to support the establishment of YHAG offices in the Volta and Bono Regions.
In a speech read on behalf of the Minister of Health, Mr. Kwaku Agyeman Manu, he praised young people for living above stigma and joining together to defend their cause.
Ms Elsie Ayeh, National President of the National Association of People Living with HIV in Ghana, recommended young people to take their medications regularly and also access the services of the National Youth Authority and the National Commission of Civic Education to help in their promotional activities.
However, he reiterated the fact that very few young people had access to antiretroviral medication and wondered what was happening to the large number of people who did not have access to medication.
Source: GNA
