Ernest Amoabeng Ortsin, President of the Ghana HIV and AIDS Network (GHANET), has disclosed that approximately 45 people contract HIV every day in Ghana, with women accounting for about 68.5 percent of new infections compared to 31.5 percent among men.
Ortsin explained that the disproportionate figures among women are partly linked to differences in testing patterns rather than actual exposure alone.
“Research unfortunately shows that it is our mothers and women who contract the disease the most… This is because when women get pregnant and start antenatal visits, they are tested for the virus… However, men don’t often go to the hospital,” he said.
He further attributed the spread to behavioural patterns among men, noting that data shows many Ghanaian men have multiple sexual partners in a given year, which he said increases the risk of transmission when protection is not used.
The disclosure follows repeated warnings from GHANET over the past year about a resurgence in new HIV infections, which the organisation has linked to a decline in public awareness campaigns compared to previous decades. Ghana recorded more than 15,000 new HIV infections and 12,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2024, according to Ghana AIDS Commission data, even as national HIV prevalence has declined from nearly 3 percent in the early 2000s to about 1.4 percent currently.
GHANET has continued to press government for increased domestic funding for the National HIV and AIDS Fund, warning that declining international donor support, including cuts linked to reduced U.S. global health commitments, threatens Ghana’s ability to sustain its HIV response through 2030.
Here’s a video of his vivid explanation.
