Church must join sexual health education campaign - Ms. Golda Asante

The church has been asked to give strong support to the promotion of sexual health education.

       Ms. Golda Asante, Eastern Regional Technical Coordinator of the Technical Support Unit of the Ghana Aids Commission (GAC), said it should help provide the people, particularly the youth, with access to adequate information about their sexuality and sexual relationship.

      She was speaking at a meeting held with the Men’s Fellowship of the Ascension Presbyterian Church in Koforidua.

      It provided the platform to discuss ways of curbing the rising prostitution, homosexuality and lesbianism in the area.

      Ms. Asante said the church should double its effort to assist people to make the right decisions and choices.

      She indicated that this should be done through education and information, saying, people needed to take decisions on their sexual orientation and relationship from “well informed position”.

      Enforcement of the law on sex alone was not enough to make people to change their sexual orientation and this was why the church’s involvement was important, she stated.

        Ms. Asante said given the church’s tremendous influence, there could be no doubt that it could help to make a difference.

        She encouraged Christian parents to have the confidence to talk and discuss sex with their children.

       Opening up to them, she said, would enable them to instill the family’s sexual values in the young ones, she added.

      Ms. Asante made reference to campaign to get people in the region to voluntarily go for HIV-AIDS test, and said, the response had been encouraging.

      She announced that in excess of 8,000 people went for the voluntary test within a space of three days - during this year’s Kwahu Easter Festival.