More people are testing positive for HIV

Dear Editor,

I saw an opinion piece recently on ‘myjoyonline.com’ titled: “Is condom the solution?”  The article, among many things, suggested that access to condom use encourages promiscuity, contributes to decay in societal values.

According to “Papa Osofo”, “to give condoms on campuses and many other social functions is to programme our men to grow to become ‘playboys’, and women to become “desperate housewives” or “desperate emotionally broken corporate/working class women” who are “mad.”

While I appreciate the opinions stated in the article as the writer’s own, it is important to note that opinions such as these are dangerous and detrimental to Ghana’s effort to battle and end the HIV/AIDs pandemic, especially at a time when the country had recorded an increase in new infections.

According to current reports, the country had recorded over 23,000 new infections within six months! Research shows that consistent users of condoms are 10 to 20 times less likely to become infected when exposed to the virus than inconsistent or non-users. 

Other studies indicate that current levels of HIV would be five times higher without condom use and that an increase in condom use averts about 117 million HIV infections. 

I, therefore, believe discouraging the use of condoms can trigger new infections that could potentially lead to a public health crisis our current health system might not have the capacity to contain.

I am not, in any way, asking people to go on a sexual spree, but it is important to call a spade a spade not a shovel! Sex is a biological need like hunger or thirst for a lot of people, regardless of their religious beliefs.

Whether we like it or not, people will continue to engage in it. While teaching abstinence is good, it does not prevent HIV as people rarely practise abstinence, especially young people.

Ghana must intensify its sexual and reproductive health interventions including public education on condom use, safe sex practices, single partnership, regular HIV/AIDs testing, and abstinence to reduce new infections. It is no longer prudent to look on unconcerned as an avalanche of new infections loom.

Joana Addey,

Teshie-Nungua Estate,

Accra.