Over 23,000 people test positive for HIV within six months in Ghana

A total of 23,495 people has tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in Ghana for the first half of this year.

The figures represented two per cent of the 948,094 people who undertook HIV testing from January to June 2022 as reported by African News on Wednesday.

The Programme Manager of the National STIs and HIV/AIDS Control Programme, Dr Stephen Ayisi Addo said in a report filed by state newspaper, graphic online.

According to the doctor, most of the 23,495 people who tested positive had since been put on HIV treatment.

Addo attributed the figures to complacency and ignorance explaining that awareness creation on the part of health workers had reduced.

The Ghanaian medical practitioner added that the prevalence of the disease was higher in men who had sex with men, with a prevalence rate of 18 percent; in female sex workers, with a prevalence of 4.6 per cent.