NGO ORGANISES WORKSHOP FOR PEER EDUCATORS (PAGE 23, OCT 17)

HEALTH Foundation of Ghana (HFG), which has been selected by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) to implement its Multi-Sectoral HIV and AIDS prevention programme (MSHAP)-2009 in the Brong Ahafo Region, has held a workshop for 50 selected peer educators and 10 community condom distributors at Kukuom.
The workshop was aimed at empowering the participants with skills and knowledge for the promotion of positive behavioural change and the prevention of the HIV and AIDS pandemic.
 The HFG is currently implementing the programme in five districts in the region, namely, Asutifi, Tanoso North, Tanoso South, Asunafo North and Asunafo South.
 The MSHAP-2009 Behaviour Change Communication and Preventive for HIV/AIDS, is a component of the GAC’s decentralised responses to address the HIV pandemic in the country and is aimed at reducing the number of new infections and preventing the spread of HIV in the Brong Ahafo Region.
According to the Programmes Co-ordinator, Mr Charles Ampontuah Yeboah, the specific objectives of the workshop were to introduce the participants to all aspects of the MSHAP 2009 programme and to train them on the need to educate the youth and the general population on behavioural change.
  The Country Director of HFG, Mrs Linda Arthur, explained that in all the five target districts, the HFG was partnering with the local non-governmental organisations (NGOs), field-based organisations (FBOs), community-based organisations (CBOs), the District Health Directorates, the District Education Directorates, the District and Municipal Assemblies and other organised stakeholder groups to implement the MSHAP 2009 sub-project.
She added that a participatory approach had been adopted from the planning stage through to the implementing and monitoring stages in each district to ensure stakeholder commitment, sustainability and success.
  Mrs Arthur said the other activity was the use of mass media behaviour change communication messages for the promotion of positive behavioural change, the distribution of T-shirts, brochures and posters, and conducting mobile outreach counselling and testing services.
 She said HIV and AIDS were unprecedented global development challenges that had already caused so many hardships, illnesses and deaths, stressing that the pandemic not only affected individuals but also devastated households and communities, as well as threatened entire nations.
 According to Mrs Arthur, reports indicated that out of the 33.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide in 2007, 22.5 million were from Sub-Saharan Africa, describing the statistics as alarming.
 She emphasised that behaviours that spread HIV were fuelled by social, cultural, economic and legal factors, which made it more difficult for people to protect themselves and which worsened the consequences of the epidemic.
  The Project Co-ordinator of Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana in Sunyani, Mr Captain Amos Adu Okyere, said even though carrying condoms by someone did not mean he or she was sexually active, learning about condoms should also not encourage the youth to be displaying them at any given time.