Health Economist and Consultant, Professor Ama Fenny, has cautioned that Ghana could face a $590 million funding gap in its HIV response by 2030 if urgent measures are not taken to boost domestic financing and strengthen health systems.
Speaking at the launch of the National HIV Response Sustainability Roadmap in Accra, where she presented highlights of the first phase of the plan, Prof. Fenny emphasised that sustaining the HIV response requires bold and immediate action.
She noted that while Ghana has made progress in reducing new infections and AIDS-related deaths, the country continues to grapple with a generalised epidemic.
National estimates show that in 2024, about 334,721 people were living with HIV, with 15,290 new infections and 12,614 deaths recorded that year.
Prof. Fenny further observed that Ghana’s treatment cascade improved to 68-69-90 in 2024, but stressed that the country remains off track to achieving the global 95-95-95 UNAIDS targets by 2030.
A major challenge, she stressed, is over-reliance on external support.
“Currently, about 60 per cent of total HIV funding comes from international partners such as the Global Fund and PEPFAR,”
“With donor support projected to decline, our analysis shows that Ghana faces a financing gap of nearly $590 million between 2023 and 2030,” she explained.
Meeting the 2030 HIV targets will require approximately $258 million annually—double the current funding levels.
Beyond financing, the roadmap identifies 12 key risks undermining sustainability.
These include weak procurement and supply chain systems, brain drain of health workers—half of Ghanaian-trained doctors and nearly a quarter of nurses now work abroad—and high out-of-pocket costs.
Prof. Fenny revealed that more than 65 per cent of insured patients and 86 per cent of uninsured patients still bear significant treatment expenses.
The roadmap, developed through stakeholder consultations, site visits, and technical working group deliberations, is anchored on five domains: sustainable financing, health systems, services and solutions, enabling laws and policies, and governance and political leadership.
Under these pillars, the roadmap recommends expanding domestic resource mobilisation while forging stronger private sector partnerships.
It also calls for reducing out-of-pocket costs by extending NHIS coverage to include all HIV services and strengthening procurement and supply chain systems to prevent commodity shortages.
In addition, it highlights the need to address stigma and discriminatory laws that hinder access for key populations, while establishing an inter-ministerial committee to drive political leadership and coordination.
“The roadmap is not just about financing,” Prof. Fenny emphasised. “It is also about governance, systems, and creating an enabling environment to ensure no one is left behind in Ghana’s HIV response.”
She added that timelines have been attached to each recommendation, with some actions expected to be completed by the end of 2025, making it easier to measure progress.
The National HIV Response Sustainability Roadmap is expected to guide Ghana’s efforts in mobilising resources, reforming systems, and sustaining gains made in the fight against HIV/AIDS ahead of the global 2030 deadline.
