GHANA – The Ghana HIV&AIDS Network (GHANET) has appointed five new executives to strengthen its management team, enable operational excellence and support execution of GHANET’s national strategy.
Established in 1996, GHANET is made up of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) that work in the area of HIV and AIDS and was founded as a civil society response to the AIDS epidemic in Ghana.
The organization has elected Mr. Ernest Amoabeng Ortsin, a social policy analyst, as the new President and Mrs. Victoria Araba Dennis as the Vice-President to join the network’s leadership board and support senior executives.
In addition, the organization has appointed Mr. Patrick Akuntungbo as the Public Relations Officer, Mr. Andrew Yilob as the Secretary and Mr. Louis Acheampong as the Treasurer to join GHANET with immediate effect.
The new President Mr. Ernest Ortsin brings to the table an extensive experience in the field of HIV/AIDS response in Ghana since he has been a member of the Network since the early 2000s.
Mr. Ortsin currently represents the Ghana HIV/AIDS Network on the Global Fund Country Coordinating Mechanism where he chairs the Malaria Oversight / RSSH (Resilient and Sustainable Systems for Health) Committee.
Moreover, he will now serve on the board of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) which is chaired by Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to support implementation of the commission’s five-year national HIV and AIDS strategic plan.
Delegates from across the country at an Annual General Meeting (AGM) appointed Mr. Ortsin unopposed to take over from the outgoing Chairperson Mr. Victor Attah Ntumi who led the Network for about ten years.
The AGM under the theme “Repositioning GHANET in the National Campaign Against HIV and COVID-19,” was attended by Dr. Kafui Senya from the World Health Organization who chaired the opening ceremony.
Also present at the event was honorable dignitaries including the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) Country Director Mrs. Angela Trenton-Mbonde, UNAIDS Adviser for Communities Dr. Jane Okrah and Mrs. Adjoa Yenyi, National Programme Analyst at United Nations Population Fund.
The President of GHANET Mr. Ernest Amoabeng Ortsin asserted that his administration would run on the tripod principles of innovation, inclusion and integration while noting that the administration would create stability during the organizational change.
“The Network will integrate technology for meetings as well as incorporate other diseases and campaigns into its core mandate to reposition the organization to go to the next level,” said Mr. Ortsin.
He will bring more innovative ideas to further the Network’s mobilization of human, financial and material resources in support of the national HIV&AIDS response and other vulnerable groups.
He will also guide GHANET’s engagement with donors, government and stakeholders in the mobilization of resources towards the national response along with creating and maintain partnerships with national, regional and international Networks in support of the national response.
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