Mr Nuhu Musah, Northern Regional Focal Person of HIV/AIDS, has asked Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART) Managers in the region to intensify efforts of working to reduce stigma especially at health centres on people living with HIV and AIDS.

He said some health workers were still treating People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) with contempt and increasing stigma and discrimination, which needed to be stopped to ensure that the country recorded zero HIV infections.

Mr Musah made the appeal in Tamale during a day advocacy and sensitization meeting for ART managers in the Northern Region aimed at promoting stronger partnerships and conducive environment for PLWHA health services.

He said the Ghana Aids Commission (GAC) had a continued mandate of providing support and other services, and stressed the need for stakeholders in the health sector to come together and fight out HIV/AIDS out of the country.

He said the Northern Region would continue to play its part in helping to reduce the HIV/AIDS spread to zero, which required the commitment of health workers and other stakeholders on health to be able to achieve.

Dr Patrick Bampoh, Northern Regional HIV/AIDS Coordinator, said the prevalence rate in the region remained 0.8, and expressed the hope that the figures would drop since the fight was on-going.

He said it was important for health workers to try as much as possible to protect the next generation from infection, saying, “those who are living with it should not infect the next generation and we need to intensify the education to protect the young ones”.

He said due to discrimination and stigmatization some of the people who were living with the disease preferred treatment with traditional herbalists, and advised health workers to remain professional by not disclosing people’s status to the public.

Chief Alhassan Amadu, Northern Regional Director of the National Population Council, who chaired the function, advocated formal education for all, saying this could help eliminate the spread of the disease.

He said many people, particularly in the North, were still engaging in multiple sexual activities, whilst others were marrying more than one wife, a situation he felt could increase the spread of the disease.