W. Africa Eminent Citizens Give PLWHAs Lifeline

The West Africa Nobles Forum (WANF), a group of eminent West Africans which seeks to promote integrity and accountability among the citizend has launched a fund to support People Living with HIV/AIDS(PLWAHAs) to meet their basic needs.

Dubbed the West Africa Social Support Fund it will take care of the nutrition, medication, hospital accommodation and transport costs of PLWHAs.

To facilitate the administration of the fund, a joint committee of the Forum and the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has been set up.

Ms. Joyce Aryee, Chief Executive of the Ghana Chamber of Mines, and newly-inducted member of the forum, launched the fund at the sixth WANF International Conference and Awards ceremony in Accra on Friday.

She said “the establishment of the Fund would enable the more privileged members of the society to contribute on a continuous basis to support PLWHAs.”

Major Courage Quashigah (rtd), Minister of Health, in a speech read on his behalf, said the time had come to shift to a broader spectrum of the populace to solicit their support for the PLWHAs, instead of the practice of waiting on the United Nations agencies for funds to disburse to bodies connected with the problem or to obtain anti-retroviral drugs for distribution to PLWHAs.

Professor Sakyi Awuku Amoa, Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, suggested to the WANF to use the Fund to support micro credit initiatives to provide PLWHAs with skills for income generation activities.

“The majority of the women need such support to enable them to establish their own businesses, and once supported, they would in turn support the men and the children in the communities,” he said.