In a strategic move to tackle the disproportionate impact of HIV on Ghana’s marginalized communities, the Ghana HIV and AIDS Network (GHANET) and the National AIDS/STI Control Programme (NACP) are co-hosting a groundbreaking three-day workshop.
Focused on the power of social media, the training aims to develop compelling, gender-sensitive, and human rights-based campaigns specifically designed to reach head porters, miners, and fisherfolk.
The initiative, funded under the Global Fund Grant Cycle Seven (GC7) Other Vulnerable Populations (OVP) program, confronts the harsh realities driving HIV risk and poor health outcomes: entrenched stigma, discrimination, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), and limited access to rights-based information. Traditional outreach methods often fail to penetrate these hard-to-reach groups, making innovative digital strategies crucial.
“The digital space cannot be ignored in the fight against HIV stigma and for human rights,” stated Mr Ernest Amoabeng Ortsin GHANET President “This workshop equips community advocates and service providers with the modern tools to create resonant messages that empower vulnerable populations, challenge harmful norms, and ultimately increase HIV testing uptake.”
Dr. Emmanuel Teviu, Acting Program Manager of the National AIDS Control Program (NACP), exclusively revealed during the workshop.
Dr. Teviu spoke to reporters alongside a pivotal 2.5-day workshop in Koforidua, organized by the Ghana HIV and AIDS Network (GHANET) in collaboration with the NACP, with crucial funding support from The Global Fund.
Galvanizing Efforts for Ambitious 2030 Targets
Emphasizing the program’s core mission, Dr. Teviu stated: “The general objective, which aligns with the global objective, is to end HIV by 2030. As a program, we are supposed to lead the health response activities in Ghana.” This requires an 80% reduction in new infections and HIV-related deaths.
The cornerstone of achieving this impact, Dr. Teviu explained, is meeting the ambitious “95-95-95” fast-track targets:
1. 95% of people living with HIV knowing their status.
2. 95% of those diagnosed being on life-saving Antiretroviral Treatment (ART).
3. 95% of those on treatment achieving viral suppression – rendering the virus undetectable and untransmittable (U=U).
“We used to know about the 90-90-90 targets for 2020,” Dr. Teviu noted. “We made progress, hence the need to push ourselves further with 95-95-95.”
Closing the Tap: Prevention & Youth Power
Dr. Teviu identified a critical gap: declining public awareness and persistent stigma. “Awareness creation… has gone down. It’s not really as it used to be,” he observed. To counter this, Ghana is adopting a proactive strategy focused on prevention and harnessing new communication channels.
“The easy way to tackle the problem is to go and close the tap,” Dr. Teviu said, using a powerful analogy. “Let’s prevent. Let’s give out the messages, empower people…
to change their behaviour to prevent getting HIV.”
Central to this new push is engaging the youth. The Koforidua workshop specifically targets “dynamic social change agents” – social media influencers and youth leaders. “Ghana is taking this initiative… to see how we can galvanize various stakeholders using the power of social media, targeting social media influencers [and] the youth,” Dr. Teviu declared.
The NACP is partnering closely with GHANET to equip these influencers. “We aim to develop their capacity… to create awareness using their platforms on HIV, so that together, collectively and collaboratively, we respond effectively,” he urged participants to take the workshop seriously, absorb the information, and disseminate “very useful, effective, and factual information.”
Stigma: The Silent Killer & Reframing HIV
Addressing a major barrier, Dr. Teviu spoke candidly about stigma deterring testing. “Stigma is a very big social problem… a hindrance to the response strategy.” He urged a fundamental shift in perception, highlighting the transformative power of ART.
“Looking at the first cases in 1986… you rarely see the classical AIDS disease now. That is because of the power of ART.” He stressed the U=U message: “If… compliant, they reach a point… undetectable means untransmittable.”
Dr. Teviu passionately advocated normalizing HIV: “We should begin to think
of HIV as malaria, as hypertension, as diabetes. It’s a chronic disease… There’s no difference at all.” He warned that the real danger lies in avoidance: “Stigma is rather killing people, instead of the disease itself. We should reorient ourselves.”
The Road to 2030: Challenging but Achievable
When questioned on Ghana’s ability to meet the 2030 deadline, Dr. Teviu acknowledged the challenge: “We still have a lot to do. I must admit… we have about five years to go.” However, he expressed strong confidence: “It’s doable. We just need to redouble our efforts… It’s not a target outside our reach.” He called for the support of “everybody, all stakeholders,” including the media.
Workshop Focus: From Awareness to
Action
The intensive workshop has clear, action-oriented objectives:
1. Ethical Foundations: Equipping participants with the ethical principles and best practices essential for providing HIV services to vulnerable groups.
2. Digital Mastery: Providing hands-on training in effective social media usage, impactful content creation (text, image, video), and strategic campaign planning for health advocacy.
3. Campaign Blueprint: Facilitating the collaborative development of a comprehensive social media campaign framework directly targeting the unique needs and contexts of head porters, miners, and fisherfolk.
Learning Through Collaboration
Moving beyond lectures, the workshop employs dynamic methodologies:
Expert presentations by digital media professionals and legal experts.
Interactive Q&A sessions with officials from GHANET and NACP.
Collaborative group discussions and case study analysis.
Practical Labs: Hands-on exercises where participants will *create* social media content and draft campaign strategies.
Expected Impact: Building Digital Champions
By the workshop’s conclusion, participants are expected to emerge as empowered advocates capable of:
Identifying and proactively addressing stigma, discrimination, and abuse within their communities using digital tools.
Applying robust ethical and legal standards to their HIV-related work and communications.
Designing, implementing, and evaluating
effective social media campaigns that resonate with vulnerable populations.
Presenting concrete social media campaign concepts ready for piloting and scaling.
This workshop represents a significant step towards leveraging the pervasive reach of social media to promote human rights, gender equality, and improved health outcomes for some of Ghana’s most marginalized citizens in the ongoing battle against HIV.
About GHANET: The Ghana HIV and AIDS Network is a leading national coalition of civil society organizations working on HIV and AIDS advocacy, prevention, care, and support.
About NACP: The National AIDS/STI Control Programme under the Ghana
Health Service leads the national public health response to HIV/AIDS and STIs.
About Global Fund GC7: Grant Cycle 7 provides significant funding to Ghana to scale up HIV prevention, testing, treatment, and care services, with a focus on reaching key and vulnerable populations.
By Kingsley Asiedu
