Retroviral Infection

Human immunodeficiency virus is the biggest killer of the "Big 3" infectious diseases. It is still a substantial problem in Ghana as well. However, it is improving as the younger reproductive-aged population has less prevalence than that of the older population, ~40+, which can be indicative of the systematic efforts to address HIV/AIDS (http://www.ghanaids.gov.gh/gac1/aids_info.php). The government subsidizes all treatment involving HIV from drugs to testing. There is also endless education starting in middle school sex ed to pre-natal counseling for HIV-risk mothers. If there is an effort to be made to address the issue of HIV Ghana is attempting it.

However, there is still a large HIV problem in Ghana. First of all, doctors do not call it HIV, it's called retroviral infection. In hopes of reducing stigma so people will actually seek treatment for their disease. A lot of young people default their treatment because they don't want to take their drugs in front of their friends. Women may not take their drugs because their husbands do not want others to know their partner is positive. This poses the largest risk for mother-to-child transmission because women breastfeed very regularly here. They may also hide this information from new doctors. To avoid this problem the pediatric doctors will simply ask for the mother's prenatal medical records to see if she is HIV positive if they have suspicions about the child. HIV+ patients are given separate pharmacy and queue to the labs so they do not have to get their meds and tests in front of other people. Their medical records are also discretely different and covered in opaque envelopes. The association of being HIV+ is that you are a promiscuous person. This leads to discordant couples in which one is HIV+ and HIV-. Doctors are NOT ALLOWED to disclose one's HIV status to their partner, even if they are legally married. It is up to the couple to speak to each other. The most troubling is when a woman is HIV+ from a previous relationship. Her husband will assume she had been unfaithful to him and leave the woman and children. However, doctors highly encourage disclosing one's status to protect the other partner, create a support network to adhere to drugs, and lastly to protect the children involved.

The battle against HIV is very real and the government has already put in place the infrastructure for it, now all that needs to be done is de-stigmatization.