Presidential Commission on AIDS to be set up

The government will soon set up a Presidential Commission to effectively tackle the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country, Mr Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister has said.

This had become imperative, if the nation was to realise her vision of enriching her human resource rather than its depletion by the epidemic.

This was contained in a speech read on his behalf at the opening of a four-day capacity building training workshop for selected Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and Community Based Organisations (CBOs) in Kumasi on Monday.

The workshop, designed to sensitize the participants on how best to tackle the HIV/AIDS menace, was organised by the Ashanti AIDS Initiative Network (ASAN) in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission.

It was on the theme: "The Role of ASAN in combating HIV/AIDS/STDs menace in Ashanti". Mr Boafo noted that the epidemic was so "pervasive and devastating that it required a multi-sectoral response from all segments of the Ghanaian society".

With the AIDS epidemic now surpassing civil strifes as the major killer in Africa, there was the need to approach it with all the seriousness it deserved, he added. Mr Boafo called on the public and People Living with AIDS (PLWA), in particular, to collaborate and support the government in its fight against the disease.

Mr Michael Boamey, Ashanti Regional Co-ordinator of HIV/AIDS, called for attitudinal change in the sexual behaviour of Ghanaians, cautioning that everybody was at risk. Mr Godfred Yaw Boateng, President of ASAN, entreated the participants to judiciously use funds given to them by the Ghana AIDS Commission since the money was not "Christmas bonus".