Over $323m spent on HIV/AIDS response in 3 years – Ghana AIDS Commission

Over $323m spent on HIV/AIDS response in 3 years – Ghana AIDS Commission

Ghana spent $323.7 million on HIV/AIDS-related initiatives during the course of the previous three years, according to data from the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC).

For the years 2019, 2020, and 2021, the total cost associated with HIV/AIDS was $88,648,568, $107,280,242, and $127,828,300, respectively.

The monies for each respective year were the total contribution given by the government, the private sector, and the international community, according to Dr. Kyeremeh Atuahene, Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission.

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At the release and distribution of the National AIDS Spending Assessment (NASA) report for 2019, 2020, and 2021, Dr. Atuahene said this.

NASA describes the financial flow, actual disbursements, and expenses for HIV/AIDS programs. It is an extensive and systemic resource tracking method.

In addition to detecting and filling funding gaps, it describes the HIV/AIDS money flow and expenditures for both health and non-health activities during the time period given.

The report focuses on three areas: financing, provision, and consumption. It also includes general estimates of what the public, private, and foreign donors will spend on the country’s HIV and AIDS response.

The Director General outlined how NASA 2019–2021 findings also demonstrate a similar pattern of overdependence on foreign funding for the country’s HIV response.

As the nation worked to address the intricate discrepancies in resource distribution, he said it was important to use the report as a vehicle for lobbying in order to reprioritize HIV funding.

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“We all have a role to play in establishing how we bring quality into the routine operations of the national response.” stated Dr. Atuhene.

Dr. Kwaku Afriyie, the Executive Oversight Minister for GAC and Minister of Environment, Science, Technology, and Innovation, praised the NASA steering group for providing technical support for the exercise while releasing the report.

He urged the Commission to continuously engage government, development partners and all the multi-sectoral stakeholders of the national response.

Dr Afriyie said this would help mobilise adequate funds to finance the implementation of the National Strategic Plan for 2021-2025 to achieve the national targets and end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.

The GAC Monitoring and Evaluation Coordinator, Mr Emmanuel Tetteh Larbi, giving a highlight of the report said even though the quantum of funding for HIV kept increasing in the years under review, HIV spending was more than the estimated resources.

He said that according to the research, Ghana’s HIV response was primarily reliant on foreign funding, with HIV care and treatment accounting for the biggest portion of HIV financing, followed by program enablers, health systems strengthening, and HIV prevention.

Mr. Larbi urged for the mobilization of local resources, institutionalized routine HIV/AIDS resource tracking, and the encouragement of creative strategies to reach important populations.

The UNAIDS Country Director’s representative, Mrs. Cynthia Adobea Asante, praised the GAC for the report and promised to keep working to safeguard the weak and marginalized.

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