GAP admonishes communities to lead the fight against HIV and AIDS

Ms Georgina Padi, Executive Director of GAP Health Aid Foundation, has admonished communities to lead the fight against HIV and AIDS by being responsible for one another's wellbeing. She said according to an estimation made by the Ghana AIDS Commission, about 935,000 Ghanaians have been infected with HIV and 580,000 of them have died of AIDS. Ms Padi told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that the devastating effect of HIV and AIDS was that over 230,000 children have been orphaned. She called on all to support the initiative to eradicate HIV and AIDS by 2030 through a responsible sexual lifestyle. 'As a nation, we've come a long way not to have a deeper idea of the damage HIV and AIDs have caused us,' she said. Ms Padi noted that stigmatization and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS had been a barrier in the fight against the disease and said it was also critical in eliminating mother-to-child transmission during pregnancies. According to the Ghana AIDS Commission, about 354,927 people were living with HIV consisting of 115,235 males and 239,692 females in Ghana. Source: Ghana News Agency