Government committed to protecting women from AIDS

Ho, Nov. 14 GNA- Mrs Gladys Asmah, Minister of Women and Children Affair on Thursday said her Ministry was committed to supporting initiatives to protect women and young people from HIV/AIDS.

This was contained in an address read for her at the closing ceremony of a Gender and HIV/AIDS workshop for 70 Chiefs and Queen mothers in the Volta Region at Ho.

She said such a lofty idea has been impeded by the HIV/AIDS. Mrs Asmah appealed to the participants to evolve appropriate and strategic measures to fight against the disease.

She suggested that they should revisit traditional practices, which sought to discourage promiscuous behaviour among the youth. She told the participants that the best practices in addressing HIV/AIDS include the elimination of stigmatisation of victims.

Mrs Asmah said since men were traditionally the initiators of sexual relations and tend to control and dominate its occurrence, it was necessary to for them to have protected sex as a way of saving their patners.

Togbe Debra VI, Paramount Chief of Logba Traditional Area called on traditional councils to set up committees to deliberate on the dangers of HIV/AIDS, saying the way forward now is to talk openly about the disease. He asked the chiefs and queen mothers to introduce traditional customs practices to teach the youth especially students, values of the practice.

Mrs Joana Opare, Director of United Nations gender System Programme said the participants were taken through topics such as situation of HIV/AIDS in Ghana and Volta Region in particular, different types of the disease, issues of cure and gender and HIV/AIDS.

It had the theme, "Stepping Up HIV/AIDS Prevention campaign from the Gender Perspective-The Role of Traditional Leaders".