Accra, Sept. 11, GNA - The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will organize a dance drama competition to educate the youth and discourage them from the stigma and discrimination against People Living with HIV/AIDS.

The competition, which is under its "HIV and AIDS Prevention through Education," (HAPE) project, would explore the power of drama and dance to send the message across and also get the youth involved in spreading the message. Mr Kunihiro Yamauchi, Resident Representative of JICA, said at a press conference on Friday that the competition would be implemented in 181 communities in 10 districts in the Eastern and Ashanti regions after which the top teams from each district would meet on September 19 at the Kumasi Cultural centre for the finals.

He said there would be other educational and recreational activities during the final competition, which include a dance performance by the Japanese Overseas Cooperation Volunteers (JOCVs) and a music performance by Screwface, a Ghanaian hip life artiste. JICA's programme, which is being held in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) and the Planned Parenthood Association (PPAG) of Ghana, is titled "Beat HIV Stigma and Discrimination," and is under the theme; "Reducing stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and AIDS - Everybody Has a Role to Play".

Mr Yamauchi said though HIV was a dreadful disease those infected were not condemned, as they could live long and fruitful lives with the support of all in their communities.

He called on the youth to participate actively in the competition to help reduce the rate of spread of the virus, especially among the youth and eliminate stigma and discrimination against PLHIV. Mr. Eric Pwadura, Communication and Public Relations Officer, GAC, said the commission considered eliminating stigma and discrimination as a major hindrance to realizing positive responses to campaigns and programmes, adding that the need to eliminate these hindrances was urgent to help realize the objective set in the Millennium Development Goal.

He said drama had been proved to be a very effective tool of communication and education especially in rural communities and could lead to the realization of positive results and commended JICA for the initiative.

Mr Pwadura said the programme would also address the shortfalls in the "Who are you to Judge," campaign which had communication gaps as far as the youth were concerned.

He said the GAC had always pursued a deliberate policy to ensure a greater involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) in the national response and to effectively empower them to be mutual partners. Mr Pwadura said despite the numerous programmes and interventions by the GAC there was the need to support the development of a policy and guidelines on stigma and discrimination and sustainable programming, engage in capacity building of PLHIV support groups and engage them in reorientation to enhance their ownership and responsibility. Mr Albert Wuddah-Martey, Programme Manager, PPAG, said the programme would engage the time of the youth positively and productively, as they would spend quality time rehearsing for their roles in the competition.

He urged the youth to come up with innovative sketches that would have an impact on the lives of their communities as far as the theme was concerned.

Winners will receive cash prize of GH¢500 with the second and third placed groups receiving GH¢400 and GH¢350 respectively.