AEGiS-IRIN: GHANA: HIV tops 400,000

Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2000. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.

GHANA: HIV tops 400,000

Integrated Regional Information Networks - June 15, 2000

ABIDJAN, 15 June (IRIN) - About 400,000 Ghanaians have contracted the deadly HIV virus and another 37,296 have developed AIDS, the country's AIDS control co-ordinator, Dr. Kweku Yeboah, said. Indications were that an estimated 120,000 children in Ghana have been orphaned by the pandemic, 'The Chronicle', an Accra daily, reported Yeboah as saying on Wednesday. Mother-to-child infection represents 15 percent of the cases, he said. The vice chairman of the Ghana National Commission on Children (GNCC), Dr. George Puplampu, told reporters that taboos about premarital sex and fear of societal disapproval were a hindrance to public discussion of ways to stem the rising incidence of sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS. The pandemic, he said, threatens to deplete the country's human resources since it affects the most productive age bracket, and treating AIDS-affected people is costly.
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