Fight against AIDS not for selected groups alone

Nkoranza (B/A) Sept. 6, GNA - The Reverend Antwi Bekoe of the World Miracle Church in Kumasi has said that the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic is not a task for some selected individuals or groups as everybody is at the risk of contracting it.

He said the efforts by the government and other organisations to eradicate the pandemic posed a challenge to all Ghanaians to get involved. Rev Bekoe was speaking at the close of a five-day Community Capacity Enhancement Workshop at Nkoranza organised for leaders of about 30 Community-Based Organisations. Action Together, an NGO, organised the workshop in collaboration with the Nkoranza District Assembly, to intensify education on the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Rev Bekoe emphasised that the situation demanded the active involvement of every Ghanaian in the campaign against the spread of the disease due to its disastrous effects on the country's youth. He urged religious leaders, teachers, assembly members, traditional authorities, unit committees and opinion leaders to join hands in the campaign against the spread of the pandemic. Rev Bekoe, who is the Executive Director of Action Together, urged the participants to visit churches, schools, festivals and durbar grounds to sensitise the people about the pandemic. He asked them to educate the people at drinking spots, hotels, transport union offices, hairdressing and barbering salons to be cautious about their sex lives.

Mr Solomon Obeng-Danquah, District HIV/AIDS Focal Person, announced that 28 community-based organizations in the District were educating the people about the pandemic.

He said he had organised educational seminars to sensitise more than 800 hairdressers, barbers, tailors and dressmakers and Queenmothers in Nkoranza on the pandemic so that they would also lead the campaign against its spread.

The next target group to receive similar education include drivers and members of the Association of Garages. Participants at the workshops would form the Nkoranza Community Capacity Enhancement Team and resource base to carry out the education campaign on the pandemic in the communities, he added.