WEBCO, HB and SLIGHTEST are what have been discovered locally at present as some of the effective drugs in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

These locally manufactured herbal preparations have become possible and readily available through the relentless efforts of Dr. Amin Bonsu and his team of researchers’ ever committed to tackle the HIV/AIDs pandemic in the country and beyond.

According to Dr. Amin Bonsu, his team of researchers decided with all seriousness to find a single formula that works on the treatment of HIV/AIDS to save mankind from dying and that the Centre sought no financial assistance from any organization but sponsored the three year continuous research and finally got the formula from herbs.

The researchers after trying the formula on about 30 patients got positive results. The use of their state-of-the-art equipment at their Laboratory to extract the active ingredients from the herbs to manufacture the medicine was an added advantage.

These three herbal medicines are refined scientifically and are now in syrup form and the centre is still working on the preparation to make tablets out of it with the same volume and potency that could be acquired from all pharmacies at an affordable prices.

According to Dr. Amin Bonsu, he embarked on this research work with the aim of bringing a new hope to the people living with HIV/AIDS that the disease has a cure and could be acquired locally.

He said though he did not use government funds in his research work, he is ever prepared to work with the government in distributing the medicine to the people living with HIV/AIDS in the country.

At least these products could go a long way to address the problem of shortage of medicine for AIDS patients and cut down cost on the importation of powerful anti-retroviral drugs.

At present, patients who are infected with HIV/AIDS can go to the Amen Scientific Herbal Clinic for treatment.

Dr. Bonsu told the Health Digest News that the most important thing in the treatment of HIV/AIDs is the CD4 count and that patients who are diagnosed with HIV/AIDS after being introduced to the medicine are advised to take regular test to be able to determine their status.

He said now that the active ingredient is extracted from the herbs, it would be easier to develop the medicine scientifically without necessarily using the herbs but the ingredients that had been identified as active formula could be acquired from other sources and once the formula is written his centre can develop more of the medicine but for the mean time he is ready with the three that are effective in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

In Ghana, according to reports from the Ghana AIDS Commission, the number of persons infected with HIV rose steadily at the start of the epidemic in the mid 1980s.

By 1994, an estimated 118,000 Ghanaians were living with HIV and the number tripled to about 404,000 in 2004 with the current figure standing at 440,000.

About 90 % of the infected people with HIV are in their most productive years between 15-49 years old.

The number of annual new AIDS cases keeps rising dramatically over the years from an estimated 5,500 in 1994, 34,000 in 2004 to the current 440,000.

It is estimated that the number of HIV cases will rise up to 50,000 by 2015.

While both men and women are vulnerable to HIV infection, it has become apparent that women have been disproportionately affected by the HIV epidemic in Ghana.

The imbalance may occur for a number of reasons, including the fact that women are more biologically prone to infection than men during unprotected sexual intercourse.

There is an important link between a woman’s inability to make choices about her life and her susceptibility to HIV infection.

Most Ghanaian women lack education, regular income, and complete control over their lives and their reproductive health needs.

Health Digest can confirm that most of the Ghanaian researchers who claim to have gotten the formula for the treatment of HIV/AIDS are not getting any attention from the Ghana AIDS Commission as expected.

This has created a lot of obstacles in the way of getting the necessary support and the final preparation accepted officially for the mass treatment and cure for HIV/AIDS.

But if the commission strengthens its supportive work for such researchers Ghana would be the first Sub-Sahara country to announce cure in the treatment of HIV/AIDS.

Story: David Amponsah Boakye (Editor-in-Chief, Health Digest News)