HIV/AIDS INFECTION IN TEMA GOES UP (PAGE 36, DEC 6, 2010)

STATISTICS show that the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS infection in Tema has doubled from two per cent last year to four per cent, which is twice the average national prevalent rate.
This means that one person out of 25 people is HIV positive in the Tema Metropolis.
The theme chosen for the day in Tema was “Act aware: Stop the prejudice to protect yourself and others” as against the main theme: “Universal Access and Human Rights. Action now.”
The Group Medical Advisor at Unilever Ghana, Dr Kwaku Sarkodie, made this disclosure at Tema during the celebration of the World Aids Day in Tema.
He said residents of Tema were at a higher risk than anywhere in Ghana today and called for intensified effort to educate the public on the need to ensure safe practices to avoid being infected.
Addressing a cross-section of students drawn from first and second cycle schools in the metropolis, community based organisations, peer educators and the public at a programme to mark the day, Dr Sarkodie said UNAIDS statistics indicated the disease had stabilised and new HIV infections were declining while mortality rate was still high.
He said 90 per cent of infected people in Ghana were between 15 and 49 years which represented the economic sector of the nation.
Dr Sarkodie appealed to residents in Tema to redouble their effort to reduce the present rate.
The Tema Metropolitan Chief Executive, Mr Robert Kempes Ofosuware, in an address read for him, said the youth represented the window of hope for the nation and, therefore, needed to exercise restraint in conducting themselves sexually.
He noted that the rate of prevalence in the metropolis was alarming, stating that Tema has 2,462 people living with AIDs made up of 758 males and 1,704 females .
Mr Ofosuware said it was in the right direction that the Day was dedicated to schoolchildren who were more vulnerable and needed to be educated more on the disease.
He said it was the responsibility of all to get involved in creating awareness that the virus was still infecting and affecting people.
Mr Ofosuware called on the students to desist from indiscriminate sexual activities, suggesting that HIV/AIDS clubs must be formed in all schools in the metropolis to keep the youth well informed.
He reminded them of the Yuletide which he said was close and advised that it was observed in line with the teachings of the Bible to avoid over-indulgence which would lead them to misbehave.
Mr Ofosuware urged corporate bodies to factor the youth in their contingency budgets to help educate them.
At Ashaiman, the day was marked with a durbar of students, chiefs, assembly members, market women, traders and heads of departments in the municipality.
The HIV/AIDS Co-ordinator in Ashaiman, Mrs Patience Boni, who represented the Municipal Director of Health for Ashaiman, declared that records as of June, 2010, indicated that 3,053 pregnant women were tested for the virus and 167 tested positive .
She said voluntary counselling and testing had 133 people testing positive out of 984 people who subjected themselves to the testing.
Mrs Boni said all those who tested positive had been referred for management.
She urged people to take advantage of the free counselling and testing to know their status to prevent the spread of the disease.
That, she said, called for behavioural change and the expansion of services for the Prevention to Mother to Child Transmission (PTMCT).
The Municipal Chief Executive, Numo Adinortey Addison, cautioned against stigmatising people living with HIV which obviously is against their fundamental human rights.
He called on all infected persons not to despair as a result of the government’s commitment to ensure that Anti Retroviral drugs were made available at less cost, urging them to commit themselves to the treatment course to enable them live healthy lives.
There were sketches and poetry recitals by the students on the need to abstain from sex or be protected with condoms.