Kukuom (B/A) Sept. 29, GNA - Dr. Eric Acolatse, Asunafo South District Director of Health Service, has expressed worry about the rate at which HIV/AIDS is spreading among the youth in the area. He noted that stigmatization and discrimination of victims by society is a major contributory factor to the rapid spread of the pandemic.

Dr. Acolatse appealed to the public to show compassion and love to victims and encourage them to access the anti-retroviral drugs to enable them to live longer and also to control the spread of the disease. He gave the advice at the opening of a five-day training workshop for peer educators and condom distributors on Behaviour Change Communication and Prevention of HIV/AIDS, at Kukuom, on Monday. The Health Foundation of Ghana (HFG) and the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) organised the workshop, which formed part of the Multi Sectoral HIV/AIDS Programme (MSHAP 2009) of the Commission.

Dr. Acolatse stated that because society relegated and undermined victims of HIV/AIDS some of them considered themselves as societal outcasts and were determined to ensure its spread.

Mr. Fleance Danso, District Chief Executive, noted with regret that because of the uncontrolled sexual promiscuity of the current generation the pandemic had gained prominence in society.

He said the youth who are the future leaders of the country had fallen prey to the deadly menace and appealed to them to channel their exuberance into productive ventures to become assets of the State. Mr. Danso advised the participants to take the workshop seriously and implored them to go back and utilize the knowledge acquired to bring about positive change in the sexual conduct of the people. Dr. Lynda Arthur, Country Director of HFG, said HIV/AIDS was an unprecedented global development challenge that had already caused hardships, illnesses and deaths.

The pandemic, she noted, affects individuals but devastated households and communities and threatened the entire nation. Dr. Arthur noted that the spread of the HIV was fuelled by social, cultural, economic and legal factors that made it more difficult for people to protect themselves.

"HIV epidemics start and spread in different ways in different places, but the epidemic is consistently accompanied by fear, blame, prejudice and stigma," she said.

The country director explained that the foundation was one of the 31 umbrella civil society organisations selected by the GAC to implement the 2009 MSHAP and was tasked to implement the programme in Asutifi, Tano North, Tano South, Asunafo North and Asunafo South Districts of Brong-Ahafo.

The foundation is charged to distribute 300,000 condoms and reach 2000 in-school youth, 17,000 out of school youth and 210,000 other people on education as well as counsel and test 5,000 people to know their status in the year-long programme, she added. Nana Wereko Ampem, Krontihene of Kukuom Traditional Area, who presided, appealed to the youth to resist illicit sexual practices that could lead them to contract the disease.