Accra, Sept 30, GNA - Curious Minds, a local youth development organization, has held its Quarterly Youth Colloquium, focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention in aid of the country's pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Mr. Kingsley Obeng-Kyereh, Executive Coordinator of Curious Minds, addressing the colloquium in Accra on Thursday, said HIV/AIDS had become so widespread that there was the need for pragmatic measures to curb its spread.

He said the disease was no longer only a health problem but social and developmental challenge. Mr. Obeng-Kyereh therefore, called on young people, and all to be mindful of its prevalence and not engage in acts that make one pre-disposed to it. He also called on the media to "sanitise" the airwaves so as not to influence people into committing acts that would lead to contracting the disease.

Dr. Richard Amenyah, Director of Technical Services of the Ghana Aids Commission, assured of the Commission's commitment to developing strategies to combat the disease.

According to Dr. Amenyah, the Commission was developing a five-year results-oriented and evidence-based programme to reduce prevalence rate drastically by 2015 in line with the MDGs.

He said HIV/AIDS activities had become costly and urged development partners not to reduce funding towards such activities. Dr Leopold Zekeng, Country Coordinator of United Nations Joint Programme on AIDS, said though the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS was going down, more work needed to be done to contain its spread. He observed that combating the disease would have positive impact on other MDGs targets.

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), which was also represented at the colloquium also called on young people to be sensible and desist from acts that could make them contract the disease.