Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies (2001) ISSN: 1530-5686 GHANA: WORLD BANK LOANS $25 MILLION TO FIGHIT HIV/AIDS

Panafrican News Agency (PANA)

November 25, 2001

Accra - The International Development Association, the World Bank’s soft loan arm, has loaned Ghana 25 million US dollars for its fight against AIDS, Ghana Television reported Sunday.

The money will be used for Ghana’s 27.8-million-dollar Ghana AIDS Response Project Fund whose aim is to support efforts to reduce the spread of the disease and to reduce the impact on those already infected by the pandemic.

Ghana’s finance minister, Yaw Osafo-Maafo, and the World Bank Resident Representative in Ghana, Peter Harrold, signed the agreement in Accra, GTV said.

Osafo-Maafo said that his government would top up the remaining 2.8 million dollars towards the cost of the project.

He said the project consists of four parts - HIV prevention and care, strengthening public/private institutions, HIV control, knowledge and management and project management, monitoring and evaluation.

Ghana recorded its first HIV/AIDS case in 1986 and the health authorities say the cumulative figure is around 45,000 cases, but estimate that about 1.4 million cases may be recorded by 2014 if appropriate interventions are not put in place.

The minister said that the framework of the project enables the government to implement a balanced, diversified multi-sectoral response, adding that without a strong HIV/AIDS programme, the benefits from improved macro-economic performance are going to be undermined by the spread of the disease.

Copyright 2001 Panafrican News Agency

Citation Format

(PANA), Panafrican News Agency (Reprint, 2001). GHANA: WORLD BANK LOANS $25 MILLION TO FIGHIT HIV/AIDS. Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies: 1, 2.