Per the records of the Ghana AIDS Commission, over 12,000 people perished from HIV-related causes in 2020 while over 5,000 young people contracted the virus. The data revealed that more women were infected than men.

It’s at the back of the alarming rate of the increase in the deadly illness that Steve Kyeremeh Atuahene, Director-General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, has added his voice to it.According to him, there is a rise in transactional intercourse among most Ghanaian youth which is the xause of the current rise in HIV/AIDS numbers in the country.

In an interview on Accra-based TV3, Mr Atuahene attributed to some new lifestyles he said have been adopted by women, predisposing them to contract the virus more than their male counterparts.

“Majority of young women are into transactional sex; that is where they think that whenever they have sex with someone, they should get something back, it can be money, it can be a gift, it can be any other thing in exchange for s.3kx,” he said.

The Ghana AIDS Commission boss believes that if there is a change in these behaviours “we can make a headway towards achieving epidemic control and ending Aids”.