Joint Regional Committee of the Ghana AIDS Commission Meeting Yields Results

Joint Regional Committee of the Ghana AIDS Commission Meeting Yields Results

At a Joint Regional Committee of the Ghana AID Commission (RECCOM) and District Focal Persons Meeting on 28th October, 2019 it came out that there were some two PLHIV families at Chabo and Samoa in the Lambusie District in dire need of support. An NGO and a member of the committee, the Community Development Alliance (CDA – Ghana) and the Ghana AIDS Commission Technical Support Unit (TSU) in the region took the task to work with the District HIV Focal Person for Lambusie to solicit support for the families.
The task team took advantage of a CDA – Ghana monitoring visit to Jirapa and Lawra to pay a visit to the PLHIVs at Chabo to ascertain the nature of their needs on 14th February, 2020. There were cultural issues that made a visit to the second family in dire need at Samoa without disclosing her status difficult. Consequently, the team could not pay her a visit.
It was discovered that the young lady had 4 children, had recently returned to the village from the Eastern Region, and was also inherited by the husband’s brother after she lost the husband (widow inheritance). The last of the four kids belongs to the new husband who has abandoned her after discovering her status. She does not know the new husbands HIV status but suspect he infected her with the illness. The new husband has since returned to the Eastern Region. According to the PLHIV, her main needs are clothing and food.
Consequently, the task team mobilised used clothes for the lady and her family, and also provided them with two bags of rice, two gallons of cooking oil, 2 bowls of beans and tom brown, one bowl of gari, and sugar. The rest were biscuits and two tins of formula for the malnourished looking son. These were presented on 5th March, 2020 to her at the Chabo CHIP compound.
 
The CHIP compound was selected as a venue for the delivery in order not raise curiosity in the village and unintentionally disclose her status to the community members in the process of providing her with support.