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21.10.2005 Health

Women advised against using female condoms as fashionable objects

21.10.2005 LISTEN
By GNA

Takoradi, Oct. 21,- GNA-Mrs. Olivia Opoku-Adomah, Western Regional Focal Person on HIV/AIDS on Friday said many young women in the region, purchase female condoms, remove the flexible rings in it and wear them as hand bangles.

Speaking at a day's training workshop for executives of Disaster Volunteer Groups (DVG) in the Western Region at Takoradi, she expressed concern about the use of female condoms as fashionable objects. Mrs Opoku-Adomah said this behaviour of some young women could negatively affect the promotion of the condom for the prevention of the HIV/AIDS in the region.

"The condom in not 100 per cent safe but meant for people who could not remain faithful or abstain from sex," she stressed. Mrs Opoku-Adomah said the fight against the HIV/AIDS is multi-sectoral and no section of the society would be ignored. She, therefore, appealed to the youth to serve as role models and educate their colleagues on the dangers of the disease and its effects on the economy.

Dr. Ronald Sowah, Western Regional Director of the Sexually Transmitted Infections and Diseases (STI/Ds) and a senior doctor at the Effia Nkwanta Regional Hospital said Anti-retroviral drugs (ARD) would soon be made available to people living with the HIV/AIDS in the region. He said the drugs do not cure the disease but are only meant to extend the lifespan of victims by reducing the rate of development of the virus.

Dr. Sowah said victims of the disease need care, attention, friendship and acceptance and cautioned that the disease would spread if people living with the it are marginalized, frustrated and ignored by the society.

He said the prevalence rate of four percent for Takoradi alone was too high and urged the general public to continually include HIV/AIDS campaigns in their programmes. Dr. Sowah appealed to the DVG to be abreast with current events and assist the general to understand environmental cleanliness, disaster management and prevention.

Mr. Padmore K. Nyekopa-Arthur, regional Director of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) said the Ghana Aids Commission (GAC) sponsored the training programme. He said the executives are expected to also train others on the dangers of HIV/AIDS and disasters at the same time.

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