Accra, Sept. 24, GNA - Vice President Aliu Mahama on Wednesday launched a project to reduce the risk of the spread of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) among selected vulnerable groups. The project, which is to carried out by the Adventists Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), would be located at 20 market centres in 15 cities and towns within Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Eastern, Central and Greater Accra Regions.
It would be carried out under the theme: "Social Mobilisation For HIV/AIDS Prevention- A Role For Informal Groups" and target about 20,000 long distant drivers, traders, female porters, cart pushers, master craftsmen and apprentices, tailors, dressmakers, hair-care providers and other out of school youths.
The United States Department for Agriculture is funding the project at 1.5 million dollars.
Pastor Peter Osei Mensah, President of the Ghana Union Conference of the Church, said the increasing magnitude of the menace in the country demanded a serious intensification of the education. He said the vulnerable and marginalised and farmers in benefiting from ADRA's food security project were targeted because they needed more education on the menace.
Pastor Mensah said community behavioural change communication strategies would be utilised to change the attitude of the target groups while clients would also be referred to reproductive facilities for counselling, diagnosis and treatment of STIs cases.
Dr Mokowa Adu-Gyamfi, Deputy Programme Manager of the National AIDS Control Programme, who gave statistics on the menace, said a total number of 64,361 cumulative cases had been recorded as at the end of December last year, while the prevalence rate was 3.4 per cent. The peak of infection is between 30 and 40 years in males and 25 and 29 year in females with 80 per cent of infection found between the ages of 15 and 49 years.
She said countries with high prevalence rates surrounded Ghana, adding that this posed a danger to long distance drivers, commercial sex workers and vulnerable groups because of the constant migration. Dr Adu-Gyamfi said: "This is something that we should not take for granted because we may consider our 3.4 per cent prevalence rate is low. This is rather the time for us to step up our efforts to reduce our rate."
Dr Adu-Gyamfi commended ADRA for the initiative and urged it to work together with relevant health partners to cater for the youth, who have shown to be the most vulnerable population.
Mr Jerry Lanier, Charges d'Affaires of the US Embassy, said his establishment was liasing with the NACP to make available antiretroviral drugs for HIV/AIDS infected people.
This, he said, had started on a pilot basis in the Eastern Region and would be extended to other parts of the country in due course. He said the US had allocated seven million dollars for HIV/AIDS educational programmes and the distribution of condoms by the Ghana Social Marketing Foundation (GSMF) this year.
Dr Richard Turkson, Executive Director of the National Population Council, who presided, said the Council would continue to create an enabling environment for increased inter-agency collaboration and promote all inclusive and genuine partnership He commended ADRA's efforts and urged other faith-based organisations to run HIV/AIDS programmes because they were better placed in communities to reach people and had the spiritual mandate to inspire and offer humanitarian services to victims. 24 Sept. 03
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