Community AIDS counsellors being trained

New Edubiase (Ash), May 4, GNA - The Royal Netherlands Embassy in Ghana in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) are assisting the Ashanti Regional Co-ordinating Council to train about 315 community HIV/AIDS counsellors in the region.

Madam Felicia Dapaah, Ashanti Regional HIV/AIDS focal person, who announced this, said the programme was being organised under the programme, Providing Care and Support for People Infected and Affected by HIV/AIDS.

Under the programme, she said 15 people each from all the districts and sub-metros in Ashanti will be equipped with proper skills on how to offer counselling to people infected with the disease. Madam Dapaah was speaking at the opening of a one-week training programme for the batch of 15 people being trained as community counsellors at New Edubiase.

She said the training of the counsellors was shifted to the districts as a departure from the past when these activities were concentrated in the cities and urban centres.

Madam Dapaah said it was her wish to see that at least in every household, there would be someone who would be able to educate and inform members of the household on HIV/AIDS.

Mr Dominic Yeboah, Adansi East District Chief Executive, pledged the assembly's support for the project and urged the participants to take the training seriously so that they will return to their communities and work harder to reduce the menace posed by the pandemic. Mr Kwasi Mensah, Adansi East HIV/AIDS focal person, urged the trainees to ensure that they provide the psychological and social support to both the infected and affected in their respective communities.