Ghana’s Vice President, Mr John Dramani Mahama, has announced that Government has committed GH¢150 million to the fight for drastic reduction of HIV and AIDS infections from 2011 to 2015.

He said apart from the campaign and educational programmes, part of the amount will be channeled towards the rehabilitation of persons living with HIV and AIDS and other sustainable programmes on the disease.

Mr Mahama announced this during the 2011 World AIDS Day celebration at Obuasi in the Ashanti Region on the theme: “Getting to Zero: The Role of the Youth.”

This year’s theme was strategically focused on the youth in recognition of both the impact of HIV on them and their potential to significantly contribute to reducing HIV infections.

The Vice President said apart from financial commitment, Government will also initiate innovations that will ensure sustainability of the Anti-Retroviral drugs to persons living with HIV and AIDS and other associated diseases.

He appealed to all stakeholders to focus on encouraging people to know their status since HIV and AIDS is no longer a death sentence as was perceived in the past.

The Vice President said under the new strategic plan for HIV and AIDS, the focus will be on the elimination of mother to child transmissions, HIV and AIDS transmission, nationwide reduction of the disease by 50 per cent and the provision of adequate access for treatment and amelioration.

He appealed to corporate Ghana and the private sector to partner Government in fighting the menace since curtailing the disease is increasingly becoming a difficult task for Government alone, particularly with current waning donor support.

Dr Angela El-Adas, Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, said Ghana is among the five countries that have reduced their prevalence rates by 20 percent and gave the assurance that her outfit will step up educational programmes to meet their target of totally eliminating mother to child infections.

She promised that a programme will soon be rolled out to engage the youth to be peer educators to help reduce the current high rates of the disease among the 15 to 24 age groups in their campaigns in subsequent years.