VCT centre to determine HIV/AIDS accurately for Dangme West

Agomeda (GAR), July 7, GNA - The Dangme West District Assembly with the support of World Vision International (WVI) Ghana and the Ghana Health Service is to establish a Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) Centre to help determine HIV/AIDS infection more accurately. It would also enable the District to formulate sound policies, strategies and plans to respond more effectively to the pandemic. Mr Michael Adjowerh-Nortey, District Chief Executive (DCE), stated these at the opening of a workshop on HIV and AIDS at Agomeda on Friday, organized by the Foundation for Sustainable Development in Africa-Ghana (FSDA-Ghana).

It was under the theme, "Fight Against the Spread of HIV/AIDS Stigmatisation, All Shoulders to the Wheel".

He said that the District had embarked on a five-year strategic plan aimed at providing accurate information on the disease, undertaking an HIV/AIDS educational programme and providing support to people living with HIV (PLHIV), orphans and vulnerable children (OVC). Mr Adjowerh-Nortey noted that a major obstacle to the efforts to curb the spread of the disease in the District was discrimination against PLHIVs, which forced them to go underground and avoiding undergoing treatment.

"When this is done, it undermines our efforts to curb the epidemic as it enhances its spread and penetration into the population", he stressed.

The DCE described the impact of discrimination against children and the youth living with HIV as "even more catastrophic". "People within these groups are in their impressionable age, which makes them less able to withstand discrimination and stigmatisation against them", Mr Adjowerh-Nortey stressed. The DCE expressed appreciation to FSDA-Ghana for supporting the District's development programmes.

Mr Frederick Yao Alipui, Executive Director of FSDA-Ghana, noted that HIV/AIDS posed a challenge to Ghana, Africa and the World and said the workshop was one of the Foundation's activities for Agomeda and the District this year.

He said as a result of the collaborative effort of FSDA-Ghana in the area, the Ghana AIDS Commission had selected the District for the implementation of the Orphans and Vulnerable Children Programme. The FSDA Executive Director expressed the hope that the programme would contribute to create more awareness in terms of education about the dangers of the disease.