Ghana AIDS Commission releases GHC171,000 to assemblies

Sekondi Jan. 8, GNA - The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), has released an amount of GHC171,000, to the 17 Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Western Region for HIV/AIDS activities.

The amount, which was released through the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), after the signing of a contract between the council and the Ghana AIDS Commission, would be used for monitoring, evaluation, coordination and management of decentralized response to the disease in their areas. Mr Mahama Abu, Western Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Focal Person on HIV/AIDS, disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Sekondi, on Saturday. He said the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies also signe= d a memorandum of understanding with the RCC on the use of the money, before it was paid into their respective Ghana Multi-sectorial HIV/AIDS Programme (MSHAP) accounts. He noted that the entire Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies are registering People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in their areas, to enable the assemblies to support them to lead meaningful lives an= d earn a living.

Mr Abu said the assemblies would also register PLWHA's with the National Health Insurance Scheme, to help sustain their lives, and that the assemblies have been given computers for the registration exercise, for enhanced data management and reporting. He said although the 2010 Sentinel Survey Report on HIV/AIDS is not ready, there are indications that the prevalence rate in the region could increase from 3.1 per cent to 4 per cent, if stringent measures were not taken. Mr Abu said HIV prevalence rate would go high because of the increase in commercial sex activities in the area and cautioned the people not to indulge in unprotected sex.