Official calls for more education on HIV/AIDS

Mr Bright Kornu, Volta Regional Focal Person on HIV/AIDS, on Wednesday said more awareness campaign needed to be done to reduce HIV/AIDS infection and stigmatization of People Living With AIDS.

He said it was incorrect to say that 98 per cent awareness had been created in the country and that more needed to be done to curb the country's current high infection rate.

Mr Kornu said this at a workshop organized by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) for media practitioners in the Volta Region.

He said more people remained ignorant of the right information and appealed to the media to "put the right information across to the right people at the right time".

"Stigmatization is still a major problem to us because many people do not understand nor know what the virus is. Thus, there is a need for you to use your pen and microphone to educate society on the real issues to enhance behavioural change", Mr Kornu said.

Mr Eric Pwadura, Communications Officer of the GAC, said stigmatization remained one of the major setbacks to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

He said PLWHAs were stigmatized in all spheres of life even at churches and called for a behavioural change.

Mr Gregory Amenuvegbe, Volta Regional Coordinator of HIV/AIDS of the Ghana Health Service, put the current national prevalence rate at 2.22 per cent as against 3.0 per cent for the Volta Region.

He said more HIV positive children were being given birth to and sited Hohoe and Ho as urban areas with high infection rate.