HIV and AIDS prevalence rate increases in Tema

Tema, Dec 2, GNA - The prevalence rate of HIV and AIDS in the Tema Metropolis had increased from 02 per cent last year to 04 per cent this year, Dr Kwaku Sarkodie, Group Medical Advisor at Unilever Ghana Limited, has said.

Speaking at an education forum for school children to mark World AIDS Day on Wednesday, Dr Sarkodie said it was regrettable that the local prevalence rate of 04 per cent was more than double the national average and also higher than the Greater Accra Regional prevalence rate of 3.2 per cent. The forum was put together by Unilever Ghana, the Tema Metropolitan Assembly and the Directorate of the Ghana Education Service.

Dr Sarkodie said as the focus for the celebration was on the young ones "let us maintain the effort throughout the coming years so that they will be spared the temptation of engaging in risky behaviour." Mr Asare Bediako Brempong, the Acting Metropolitan Co-ordinating Director, said people living with HIV at the end of the third quarter of this year totalled 2,462, made up of 1,704 women and 758 men. He suggested the formation of HIV and AIDS clubs in all schools within the Metropolis to serve as platforms for the youth to be properly informed of the disease and its deadly and devastating consequences. Mr Kwesi Hutchful, Metropolitan Director of Education, said education was important in the control of the pandemic and without it HIV and AIDS would continue to spread. 02 Dec 10