The Deputy Ashanti Regional Focal Person on HIV/AIDs, Dennis Bandoh, has advised men to take the HIV tests as is being done by women.

He said one of the greatest challenges facing the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in the fight to help reduce the HIV transmission rate in Ghana was the inability to get more men to test for their HIV status.

In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Bandoh pointed out that the active involvement of men was crucial in reducing the spread of the virus in communities.

He said testing positive for HIV and being on a lifetime treatment was like being on a BP medication for life.

Bandoh said the dangers of HIV occurred when an infected person ignored treatment and sought treatment outside the health centre.

He appealed to men to get tested as the women were being tested even during pregnancies to identify the infected men so that they could be treated.

Mr Bandoh said Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) treatments were available to be given to infected persons to pick up every month after being accessed at health centres.

He said a six-month ART pack has also been introduced to be given to HIV infected persons whose viral load was low.

The pack contained 180 pieces of the treatment to last for six months to prevent them from frequenting the health centre so that those whose viral load was high could be attended to, he said.

Ms Olivia Graham, the Ashanti Regional Technical Coordinator of the Ghana AIDS Commission, told the GNA that, the Ashanti Region ranked second after the Greater Accra Region in the prevalence of HIV in the country.

Recording in all 43 districts, the Ashanti region chalked over 60,000 cases of HIV with 3,650 new cases recorded in 2023, she noted.

Ms Graham said 400 HIV testing sites had been instituted to help identify infected persons, while 93 sites were readily available to provide infected persons with the ATR treatment.

Additionally, she mentioned that all maternity health centres conducted the HIV tests for pregnant women to ensure that if the mother was infected, she would be treated to prevent the mother to child transmission.

Due to the HIV tests conducted for pregnant women, she said in 2023, 97 per cent of the infected pregnant women were managed to avoid the transmission of the virus to their babies.

Ms Graham noted that the transmission of the virus from mother to child in 2023 in the region was below the five per cent threshold for the country and needed to be applauded.

She said 80 per cent of the HIV infections were from sexual activities such as oral sex, anal sex and vaginal sex, 15 per cent through mother to child transmission and five per cent through HIV infected objects such as needles, blades and others.

Ms Graham encouraged everyone to get tested for HIV and treated if infected, to ensure the prevention of the widespread of the virus in the region and the country at large.

She said only about 41 per cent of the infected persons in the region are actively being treated with the ART in the region and this was below the target of getting 95 per cent on the treatment.