FIVE DISTRICTS SELECTED FOR HIV/AIDS PROGRAMME (PAGE 15, GRAPHIC NSEMPA

By Akwasi Ampratwu-Mensah, Kukuom

Five districts in the Brong Ahafo Region have been selected by the Ghana Aids Commission (GAC) for the implementation of the commission’s Multi-Sectoral HIV/AIDS Prevention Programme (MSHAP) 2009, under which in-school and out-of-school peer educators are to be empowered with knowledge and the requisite skills to promote positive behavioral change and prevention of the pandemic.
The Health Foundation of Ghana (HFG) is one of the 31 umbrella civic society organisations selected by the GAC and tasked to implement the programme in the Asutifi, Tano North, Tano South, Asunafo North and Asunafo South districts.
The HFG’s work in reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention began in 2002, and the foundation has since remained committed to the cause of working towards an HIV-free generation in Ghana and Africa.
The MSHAP 2009 Behaviour Change Communication and Prevention for HIV/AIDS, is a component of the GAC’s decentralised response to addressing the HIV pandemic in the country and aimed at reducing the number of new infections and preventing its spread of in the Brong Ahafo Region.
Fifty selected schoolchildren and out-of-school peer educators as well as 10 community condom distributors, in the Asunafo South district have already attended a six-day workshop, on the programme at Kukuom, the district capital.
The target segmentation for the In-school-youth are 10-14 years and 15-24 years, while that for the out-of-school youth are 10-14 years and 15-24 years with the general population for adults pegged at 25 years and above.
Total target for the in-school-youth under the programme is 2000, with a minimum of 400 per district, while the total for those out-of-school youth is 17,000 with a minimum of 3,500 per district. For the general public, 210,000 people are targeted with a minimum of 42,000 per district to be achieved.
The HFG is also to ensure that 300,000 condoms are distributed in the region with a minimum of 60,000 per district, and 5,000 people to be counselled and tested for HIV with a minimum of 1,000 per district.
Stakeholders who are collaborating with the HFG are the various district assemblies, the district health authorities, the district education directorate, faith-based organisations such as churches and mosques, the Department of Social Welfare, Ministry of Food and Agriculture (MoFA), organised groups, such as tailors, hairdressers, drivers, market women, traditional authorities and community volunteers.
The Country Director of HFG, Mrs Lynda Arthur who presented a paper at the workshop, disclosed that the demographic variations in 2008 for HIV prevalence in the country was estimated at 1.7 per cent while the regional variations ranged from 1.1 per cent in the Northern Region to 4.5 per cent in the Eastern Region.