HIV/AIDS Intervention
The first case of HIV was reported in Ghana in 1986. Since then, it is estimated that over 200 000 Ghanaians have died from the disease, and over 300 000 currently remain infected. Out of this number, almost 80% of the 120 000 that require life-sustaining treatments remain without access. The Ghana Ministry of Health, with the assistance of agencies such as the UN and the Global Fund, has worked to reduce the prevalence rate of HIV to 1.9 in 2008 from its peak at over 3% in 2003. However, over the last couple of years this incidence rate has risen to 2.1%. Particularly, people between the ages of 18 and 35 have been found to contribute almost 50% of new infections.
REACH has established itself within this specific niche to contribute to what is currently being done to control HIV in Ghana. Within this population, fear of stigma and discrimination fosters significant aversion to testing, and the notion that a positive HIV test is equivalent to a death sentence prevails. Wider delivery of effective behavior change and prevention strategies and scale up of treatment services are key to reversing the epidemic. However, neither of these can be achieved in an environment that lacks de-stigmatization strategies and preventive services for the people most at risk, as well as the necessary health resources to support people living with the disease.
Our HIV/AIDS Intervention seeks to provide access to comprehensive HIV prevention and treatment 
services for young people on major university campuses and surrounding communities in Ghana. Since stigma and discrimination appear to be major factors hindering an effective HIV/AIDS response, REACH is in the process of determining and eliminating the factors that drive stigmatization, negative attitudes and sexual behaviors. Subsequently, REACH will establish a comprehensive program that provides access to HIV prevention, testing and general treatment services while engaging the community and improving overall well-being.
Mother-to-child transmission of the virus contributes to a majority of HIV infection in children, and targeting this group gives us the additional advantage of making young women at the onset of reproduction aware of their HIV status to significantly reduce the incidence of infected newborns in the future, especially as women within this age group are disproportionately infected within the country.
We have selected campuses in the Eastern Region of Ghana where HIV prevalence is twice the national average. We hope to establish partnerships between these universities and their surrounding communities, in order to access a less educated population that may have less HIV education and establish lasting relationships between these universities and their surrounding communities to build capacity for the long-term.
This project is currently ongoing. For more details, or to find out how you can contribute, email hiv@reachghana.org.
Donate today to help facilitate this project.
The Project Director for this project is Benedicta Osafo-Darko, who holds a Bachelor’s in Health Administration and Policy, and a Master’s in Applied Sociology from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). She loves to travel, cook, write and dance. She also loves kids! She has very fond memories of her childhood in Ghana growing up in a family of six children. When she was younger, she was certain she wanted to become a medical doctor. She attended St. Martin de Porres School and Holy Child School in Ghana. She continued high school in Rockville, Maryland, where she was certified as a Nursing Assistant. She volunteered often at nursing homes and got her first hand experience in direct patient care as a student intern in the Oncology Department at a hospital in Maryland. This experience made her realize that perhaps direct patient care was not the career path for her.
Her interests include stigmatized illnesses and health behaviors such as HIV/AIDS and suicidal behavior. She is particularly interested in pathways and mechanisms that link social and behavioral patterns in health outcomes, especially among vulnerable populations, and how they can be improved using community-based interventions. Bennie combined her passion for travelling and researching when she studied in South Africa, Lesotho and Switzerland. Her research in these countries focused on the social factors that drive HIV/AIDS. She has also volunteered at the Midway Clinic in Achimota.
Her interest in research led her to seek a job a Westat in Rockville, where she is a Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) Reporter. DAWN is a public health surveillance system that monitors national and local trends in drug-related emergency department visits.
