Children under 12 years fanning the flames of HIV/AIDS

Ho, July 14, GNA- Early sex among children especially, girls at 12 years and below could be "stoking the fires of HIV/AIDS in Ghana," Doctor Silvia Anie, Director of Policy and Planning, Ghana Aids Commission (GAC) said on Monday.

She raised the alarm at a two-day consultation workshop in Ho, for stakeholders from the Volta and Eastern regions to prepare the 2009 Programme of Work (POW) of the Commission. She described the situation as dangerous for the Commission's efforts at reducing the rate of the menace and called on stakeholders to help solve the problem.

Dr. Anie attributed the problem to lack of sex education and urged parents to educate their children regularly on their reproductive health and monitor their sexual lives. She advised stakeholders and teachers to encourage adolescents to appreciate the importance of sexual abstinence and practise it. "Abstinence should be the lullaby for school children," Dr. Anie stressed.

She said unprotected sexual intercourse remains the major mode of HIVAIDS transmission in the country, which must be confronted at every level of the society.