HIV/AIDS related organisations urged to link up

Yendi, (N/R), Oct 15, GNA- An official of ActionAid Ghana, a British NGO, on Wednesday appealed to NGOs and other agencies engaged in the prevention of HIV/AIDS to link up their programmes with their counterparts in neighbouring countries to fight the spread of the disease.

Mr Kweku Koranteng, Northern Regional Programme Officer of ActionAid, said by linking up their education activities with countries such as Togo, Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire, they could effectively combat the spread of the disease across their common borders.

Mr Koranteng made the call at a meeting on HIV/AIDS with other NGOs, civil society organisations, district assemblies and some decentralized departments.

Participants at the meeting were from Yendi, Nanumba and Saboba/ Chereponi districts to hold discussions on recommended activities in the fight against HIV/AIDS for 2004.

He said the pandemic is a serious threat to the socio-economic development of countries of the West African sub-region and called for collaboration in the fight against the disease.

Mr Koranteng said Action-Aid has, between 2000 and 2002, provided 29 billion cedis financial support to its decentralized departments to promote basic human rights, policy influencing programmes and campaign activities.

Mr Michael Lumor, Senior Programme Officer of ActionAid said as part of the organization's programme to support food security, it has in collaboration with the Saboba/Chereponi District Assembly constructed a dam for dry season farming at Tombu at a cost of 1.2 billion cedis. He said ActionAid is also supporting Christian Mothers' Association, a women's organisation within the Catholic Church, to empower women groups through the provision of grinding mills and the construction of grain banks to store food against the lean season.