HIV Forum Held

A public lecture was held in Accra to educate the public on the dangers of HIV/AIDS.

Participants included students, artists, actors and musicians. It also provided a platform for a one-on-one talk with HIV/AIDS patients.

It was also to sensitise people on the pandemic and how it is spread.

Addressing the gathering, Dr. Kwabena A. Adanse-Pipius, an HIV/AIDS consultant, said the risk of getting HIV/AIDS is zero per cent and at the same time hundred per cent, therefore, the best option was for people to protect themselves.

One possible way to get infected, he said, was through the blood stream which is either by unsafe blood products, mother-child transmission and use of used unsterilised neddles.

Nobody can be infected through shaking of hands, kissing and eating food prepared by an infected person', he said.

He said the risk of contracting HIV was higher when one has sex with a person coming from regions where the incidence of HIV was high or with target groups of high HIV incidence.

Dr. Adanse-Pipius said the rate at which a person breaks down on contracting the disease differs from person to person, saying, genetic factors play important roles in every individual.