Do not refuse blessing marriages of HIV positive persons- Clergy told

Dr Stephen Ayisi-Addo, Programmes Manager, National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), has asked the clergy not to refuse to bless marriages of persons living with HIV (PLHIV).

He said getting married to an HIV positive person was not dangerous as perceived by many because antiretroviral treatment suppressed the virus and stopped it from spreading.

Dr Ayisi-Addo spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of the 20th anniversary celebration media launch of antiretroviral treatment in Ghana.

An estimated 354,927 people are currently living with HIV in Ghana.

Out of this, seven per cent are children aged zero to four (0-4) years, six per cent represents adolescents aged 10-19, whilst the remaining 87 per cent are adults.

As of December 2023, Ghana’s HIV current prevalence rate stood at 1.7 percent of the general population.

The prevalence, however, is much higher amongst key populations, particularly female sex workers, 4.6 per cent and men who have sex with men, 26 per cent.

In December 2003, Ghana began the treatment of HIV through Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), which keeps affected persons stronger and increases their life expectancy.

The programmes Manager of the NACP, said ideally, any HIV positive patient on ART treatment with strict adherence should have viral suppression within six months, adding that contacts of such persons would not be affected by the virus.

“Religiously, we are talking to pastors not to deny anybody who has HIV a marriage blessing, they should rather be encouraged to marry because love is bigger than HIV.”

“People are surviving with HIV today more than other disease conditions, we need to encourage pastors to bless such marriages and encourage people with HIV to marry as well, once there is no exclusion criteria for people who have any other diseases not to marry.

“I have a lot of clients who are serodiscordant couples, one is positive, one is negative and they have given birth to three, four children who are all negative. So why do you deny anybody?

“As long as they’re taking their medications, they’re not going to pass the virus to their spouses and children,” he stated.

He said HIV positive patients must be encouraged and supported to ensure adherence to ensure viral suppression to prevent further spread.

“A lot of work in terms of reinforcing adherence needs to be done because sometimes it becomes a chronic disease like hypertension, diabetes and people get tired, some also go to herbalists, prayer camps just because of stigmatisation, social reasons and long distance to the treatment sites among others.”

Dr Ayisi Addo added that plans were in place to ensure the number of ART sites were increased to enable clients to get the medicines closer to their doorstep, saying at the moment there were about 800 ART sites even though the country had close to 6,000 health facilities.

“Ideally, all the health facilities should have the drug so that people can access it. So, part of this celebration is to reinforce adherence and all the things it takes to showcase the success stories.”

He said some HIV positive persons had not attained viral suppression due to lack of adherence to medications.

The programmes Manager called on the public to be supportive and stop stigmatisation against HIV persons and encourage them to avail themselves for treatment.

He said the NACP was in the process of formulating strategies in addressing issues of stigmatisation and that with support from partners, it was orienting HIV patients to stop stigmatising themselves.

He also called on the public to support the AIDS fund and sustain the fight against stigmatisation to achieve epidemic control in a few years time.

Source: GNA