AIDS Commission warns rejecting HIV-positive job applicants could break the law
Ghana's AIDS Commission says rejecting people for jobs solely because they are HIV positive could breach the country's anti-discrimination law, following controversy over the exclusion of more than 1,000 applicants from a security services recruitment exercise
Ghana's AIDS Commission says rejecting people for jobs solely because they are HIV positive could breach the country's anti-discrimination law, following controversy over the exclusion of more than 1,000 applicants from a security services recruitment exercise.
The warning comes after Interior Minister Muntaka Mohammed-Mubarak disclosed that about 1,300 applicants tested positive for HIV during mandatory medical screening for recruitment into Ghana's security services.
The minister said the government chose not to send individual medical results directly to unsuccessful applicants.
Instead, affected candidates were given contact details to voluntarily access counselling and further medical support, in line with international health guidelines.
But the Ghana AIDS Commission says HIV status alone should not be used to deny someone employment.
Speaking to Joy FM and monitored by the Executive Spotlight on Wednesday, the Commission's
Director of Policy, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation,
John Eliasu Mahama, cited Section 32 of the Ghana AIDS Commission Act, 2016, which prohibits discrimination against people living with HIV in employment except under limited circumstances.
"The HIV status of a person shall not constitute a reason to refuse employment to that person, except where an employer can show that the employment in question requires that the employee must be in a particular state of health or medical or clinical condition," he said.
The comments follow public concern over reports that some applicants may have been disqualified from the recruitment process after testing positive for HIV.
Mr Mahama said advances in medical science had transformed the management of HIV, making many long-standing recruitment restrictions outdated.
He pointed to the widespread availability of antiretroviral treatment and the internationally recognised "Undetectable = Untransmittable" (U=U) principle, under which people living with HIV who maintain an undetectable viral load cannot sexually transmit the virus.
He said several countries had reviewed their recruitment policies, including those governing security services, to reflect these scientific developments.
"A lot of security agencies had these provisions at the peak of the HIV epidemic when treatment was limited. Today, science has advanced significantly," he said.
The Commission also stressed that an initial reactive HIV test does not amount to a confirmed diagnosis and should always be followed by confirmatory testing, counselling and appropriate medical care before any conclusions are reached.
Mr Mahama welcomed the government's decision to release only aggregate figures from the recruitment exercise, saying it helped protect the privacy of applicants while allowing affected individuals to seek counselling through dedicated support channels.
Asked whether the Commission had engaged the Ministry of the Interior over the reported disqualifications, he said the matter was still under review.
"The information has only recently come into the public domain. We are assessing the recruitment practices and whether they comply with the Ghana AIDS Commission Act," he said.
The issue has renewed debate over the balance between public sector recruitment standards and the legal protections afforded to people living with HIV under Ghanaian law.
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