HIV among adolescents too high in Tema

The Tema Metropolitan Health Directorate has called on stakeholders to help health officials reduce the high rate of HIV infection among adolescents in the Tema Metropolis.

Dr John Yabani, Metropolitan Health Director, disclosed that 54 adolescents who visited Adolescent Corners at various hospitals in Tema tested positive to HIV from January and June.

Dr Yabani indicated that the figure includes both boys and girls from 10 to 19 years.

He noted that those who tested positive to HIV were necessarily not students as being reported in the media, as some of them could be hawkers and street children.

He explained in an interview that the Ghana Health Service under its Adolescent Reproductive Health Programme has created adolescent corners at the hospitals where the figure was collated from.

He added that the programme is aimed at targeting, interacting and educating them on their reproductive health as adolescents noting that adolescence is a period of experimentation.

The Health Director therefore urged parents to monitor and supervise what their children watch on television and the internet to be able to correct and guide them through that period.

He also reminded the media to censor what they show and air to avoid exposing adolescents to information that would lead to them experimenting with sexual activities and ending up contracting HIV or sexually transmitted diseases or infections.