Condom not full proof against HIV/AIDS

Sunyani, May 3, GNA - The Reverend Dr. Franklin A. Kwasi Biney, member of Ghana Association of Private and Voluntary Organizations in Development-Ghana on Wednesday said in Sunyani that the usage of condom is not the safest method of checking the spread of HIV/AIDS. "There are grades of condoms and the body has a temperature (body heat) that has an influence on the condom, which later develops microscopic holes during the act of sexual intercourse. You cannot be too sure in using condom", he said.

Rev. Dr. Biney was giving a lecture on "Stigmatisation/Discrimination" at an HIV/AIDS talk show programme organised by the women's wing of the Sunyani Polytechnic. He noted that the success chalked by the Ghana AIDS Commission in the fight against the pandemic would soon be eroded, if people did not change their attitudes towards People Living With HIV/AIDS. "The United Nations Human Rights document clearly asserts the rights and privileges of people infected with HIV/AIDS, among things to liberty, security, life, asylum, freedom of opinion, association, marriage and the right to share information", Dr. Biney said, adding, "such rights of infected people should be respected and not discriminated against".

Rev. Biney called on religious bodies to prevail on their members to change the misconception that only unscrupulous and immoral people contracted the disease and appealed to the electorate to vote for politicians, whose manifestoes addressed how the pandemic could be tackled.

Rev. Biney revealed that Ghana was currently ranked 11th in the world among countries with the highest cases of AIDS, while South Africa occupied the first position.

Madam Millicent Boateng, Student Representative Council Women's Commissioner, Sunyani Polytechnic, said the lecture was dedicated to victims of the pandemic committed to the fight against it but had perished.

She said the lecture was part of the women's wing's aims of fighting for the cause and improving the welfare of women on campus. Mrs. Lucy Bayole, tutor, OLA Girls Secondary School at Kenyasi urged female students to concentrate on their studies and work assiduously towards their academic goals.

She advised them to desist from indulging in immoral acts to avoid contracting the deadly disease.

A candlelight procession was later held in memory of people, who had lost their lives through the pandemic.