Inability to source funds hampering HIV/AIDS in Gomoa District

Apam, Jan 26, GNA - The inability to source funds is retarding the progress of organisations fighting to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS in the Gomoa District.

Mr Eric Akobeng, District Monitoring and Evaluation Focal Person said depending solely on the Ghana AIDS Response Fund (GARFund) was not enough to halt the spread of the disease in the District.

"The no GARFund, no programme syndrome is not in the interest of our people whose survival is being threatened by the killer disease," he said.

Speaking to the GNA at Apam on Tuesday, Mr Akobeng appealed to Community Based Organisations (CBOs) and Non-governmental Organisations (NGOs) operating in the District to take advantage of the training they had received on proposal writing to source funds from donor agencies to sustain their programmes.

He said reports from health facilities and results of the baseline survey conducted by DANIDA pointed to the fact that the HIV/AIDS pandemic was spreading in the District, which needed concerted efforts to halt.

Mr Akobeng expressed disappointment over the inability of organisations to go into care and support for people living with the disease.

It is regrettable that only one organisation, Allies in Development Actions is offering care and support to people living with the disease in the District and appealed to the other organisations to enter the area.

People living with AIDS should not be treated like outcasts, he stated adding that, "Such an attitude will only make them have ideas to infect others with the disease," Mr Akobeng pointed out.