HIV infections & teenage pregnancy reduced due to Free SHS – AC

The Ghana Aids Commission has attributed the reduction of HIV infections and teenage pregnancy in the country to the implementation of the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) program introduced in the 2017 academic year.

In a discussion with the Accra-based Asaase radio station monitored by Thisterm.com, the Director of the Aids Commission said amid the Free SHS, teenage pregnancy among girls and HIV infections have been reduced by 50%.

The Aids Director, Dr Kyeremeh Atuahene in the interview said Ghana registered 16,574 new HIV infections in 2022 as opposed to 16,938 in 2021. The figure he said represents a 2% reduction in the rate of new infections in the country.

“We know that when girls stay in school up to secondary school level, it helps to bring the number of pregnancies down. And that is a sign that we are seeing in relation to the introduction of the Free SHS, which has increased the … enrolment of girls in secondary schools.

We also know that when girls remain in schools up to the secondary school level, that alone is protective, so far as HIV infection is concerned. That alone reduces infection among these girls by as much as 50%,” Dr Atuahene told Asaase.

In September 2017, the Nana Akufo-Addo government introduced the Free Senior High School program popularly termed Free SHS. That year, there was an 11% increase in enrolment, breaking records from previous years.

In the 2017/2018 academic year, a new record was set with the highest enrolment ever seen in the country: According to statistics, more than 470,000 BECE graduates enrolled in various public Second-cycle school institutions nationwide.

Amid Free SHS, every Ghanaian child who is placed into a public Second-cycle institution by the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) gets his/her Senior High School education sponsored by the government.

The flagship Free Senior High School (Free SHS) program provides students with core textbooks, supplementary readers’ notebooks, exercise books and, where applicable, free drawing instruments at no cost to them.