Koforidua, Aug. 12, GNA - A new national youth policy drafted with inputs by the Commonwealth Secretariat is being studied by Cabinet for approval, the National Youth Co-ordinator, Mr E.K. Adama, has announced at Koforidua on Tuesday.

Speaking at a two-day Youth Forum as part of activities marking this year's International Youth Day, he indicated that when passed into law, the policy would help to harness and direct the potentials of the youth into the mainstream of national development.

The celebration was attended by representatives of youth groups from the regions, educational institutions and churches affiliated to the National Youth Council (NYC).

Mr Adama mentioned some of the problems facing the youth as limited educational and training opportunities, lack of resources to fund youth programmes, diseases, conflicts and inequities in social, economic and political conditions.

Speaking on the topic: "Maximising the potentials of the youth for national development", he regretted that the youth were being denied of benefiting from family socialisation and community institutions. He noted that the lack of close family support systems, career guidance and unemployment left the youth unprepared or unable to be adequately integrated into the developmental process of the country. Mr Adama urged the youth to consider themselves as active players in national development by making meaningful appraisal of their conditions affecting their development and re-position their destiny appropriately.

Speaking on "the role of the youth in combating the HIV/AIDS disease", the Eastern Regional HIV/AIDS Co-ordinator, Dr. S. B. Ofori, using slides pictures to illustrate his talk, stressed the need for the youth, "window of hope", to abstain from pre-marital sex as the only viable means of avoiding the disease and combating the spread of the menace.

He said research indicated that Koforidua and Agormanya-Krobo, both in the Eastern Region, topped the six towns in the country with the highest prevalence rate of above five percent, adding that Koforidua had nine per cent, while Agormanya had seven.

Dr Ofori, who said Agormanya's fell from a previous nine per cent, mentioned the other towns as Tema, Navrongo, Obuasi and Buipe in the Northern Region whose prevalence rate were above the national three-point-five per cent.

He announced that the Ghana Health Service is to extend the pilot test, which began at the Atua and Agormanya Hospitals in Manya Krobo district to check the incidence of "mother-to-child" infection of the HIV/AIDS, through the administration of the Nevirapine drug, to 26 other hospitals this year.

The Eastern Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service(GES), Mrs Ewurabena Ahwoi, who chaired the forum, explained the education policies to them and gave the assurance that the concerns raised would be given the necessary attention alongside the implementation of the President's Education Review Commission's report. Aug. 12, 2003