Accra Hosts ICASA 2025 as Leaders Push for Homegrown HIV Strategies
The 23rd International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA) has opened in Accra, bringing together women leaders and first ladies from across the continent to strengthen Africa’s fight against HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
At the opening session, Ghana’s Vice President, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyeman, urged African governments to take bold ownership of the AIDS response as global support for health systems continues to decline. She said Africa can no longer depend on external aid and must set its own priorities to protect the progress made over the years.
She stressed the need for stronger domestic financing, better disease surveillance, and regional pharmaceutical manufacturing to ensure the continent can produce its own medicines and respond quickly to health threats.
While innovations such as HIV self-testing and long-acting prevention drugs have helped, Opoku-Agyeman warned that progress remains uneven. Africa still carries more than two-thirds of the world’s HIV burden, with significant gaps in access to treatment and prevention.
“We need African-led solutions, digital transformation, and technology that serves our people,” she said.
This year’s conference, themed “Africa in Action: Catalyzing Integrated Sustainable Responses to End AIDS, TB, and Malaria,” focuses on accelerating the continent’s efforts toward ending the three diseases and building stronger, more resilient health systems.
