By Dr. Thomas Anaba, Executive Director of the Africa Center for Health Policy Research and Analysis, reveals that delayed clearance of medical supplies donated by the Global Fund has resulted in a surge of tuberculosis, malaria, and HIV/AIDS cases.
These supplies, comprising antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS patients and mosquito nets for pregnant women, have been held at Tema Port since July 2023 due to import duties.
Consequently, Global Fund has halted additional shipments of crucial medical supplies.
Dr. Anaba expressed concern about a potential widespread increase in tuberculosis, malaria, and AIDS cases, particularly when comparing the current situation to last year’s figures, during an interview on the Citi Breakfast Show on Citi FM.
“There is an increase in the cases of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS from last year’s figure, and the complications of people dying from AIDS has also increased. Women getting malaria during pregnancy has increased because of this.”
He suggested that Ghana should communicate the quantity of supplies needed ahead of time to the Global Fund and make budgetary allocations for clearance to avert future delays.
“Ghana has the statistics of how many people get tuberculosis, malaria and AIDS every year and this can be planned with a top-up percentage of 10 percent and then we can budget for how much of these drugs that we need and then we contact Global Fund on how much they can give us ahead of time and then we budget for money to clear the drugs.”
