QUEENS ATTEND COMPETENCY WORKSHOP0 (NSEMPA, PAGE 9)

By Akwasi Ampratwum-Mensah, Sunyani

Paramount queens in the Brong Ahafo Region have attended a competency workshop on HIV/AIDS with the view to equipping them with the necessary information and skills to enable them to play an active and effective role in the fight against the pandemic in their respective traditional areas.
They were trained to serve as principal advocates to encourage their citizenry to go for Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) so that each person would know his or her status on the HIV/AIDS menace.
The workshop, which was the second to be held for the traditional authorities by the Ghana Aids Commission, treated topics such as Behaviour Change Communication and HIV and Cultural Practices as well as The Importance of Voluntary Counselling and Testing/Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV (VCT/PMTCT).
Mr William Saawil Sopiimeh, the Regional Health Educator and HIV/AIDS Co-ordinator, who spoke on the VCT/PMTCT, disclosed that, from January to June this year, only 12,528 people, made up of 10,477 females and 2,105 males in the region, voluntarily tested for HIV.
He underscored the importance of VCT since it helped clients to plan for their future, and said that knowing one’s HIV status also helped to reduce risky behaviour, pointing out that VCT services included early referral for appropriate health services.
According to Mr Sopiimeh, the benefits of VCT for those who tested HIV negative were that clients could get married and plan for the future, and that there could be pregnancy without doubts and fears, and also the reduction of fear, anxiety and hopelessness about past risk behaviours.
He explained that for those who tested positive, the benefits were that clients could learn how to prevent passing the infection on to loved ones while HIV positive clients could make informed decisions about marriage, pregnancy and sexual relations, and that VCT served as an “entry point” for clients who needed other services such as the detection and treatment of tuberculosis, the prevention of other HIV-related infections or the prevention of mother-to-child transmission as well as family planning services.
Again, he pointed out that clients could seek spiritual care early, if desired and they could also be referred for legal assistance and to support groups within communities while HIV positive clients would be counselled to learn about “positive living,” adding that, “Positive living with HIV means taking care of your health in order to stay well and longer.”
Nana Bosoma Asor Nkrawiri II, the Omanhene of the Sunyani Traditional Area, requested the Ghana AIDS Commission to assist all the Regional Houses of Chiefs and Traditional Councils in the country to enable them to aggressively get involved in their activities and HIV/AIDS programmes.
He expressed the hope that the programme would be useful not only to the paramount queens but also to their various community members, adding that the workshop was very timely, since the disease was causing a lot of harm to innocent people in the country.
The president of the Brong Ahafo Queen Mothers’ Association, Nana Atoa Sramanagyedua III, who is also the Wenchihemaa, pointed out that it was the duty of Nananom to help educate the people in their respective traditional areas about the dreadful disease so that they would be more careful in their sexual exploits.
“I know we will all go to our traditional areas to put into practice and action all that we have learned here by educating them on the dreadful disease,” she emphasised.