Ho, March 16, GNA - The Ho Municipal Assembly says it has identified spots within the municipality that are fast developing into brothels and dens for improper sexual activity. Mr Mawutor Goh Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) said integrated plans had been laid out to deal with the situation before those places grow into full-blown red-light zones.

He was interacting with participants attending an HIV/AIDS prevention pre-project implementation meeting in Ho. Mr Goh said officials had visited the areas and were assessing the modus operandi of the culprits to enable the assembly move on them. Strengthening HIV/AIDS Response Partnership (SHARP), a USAID supported organization, is supervising the 14-month venture being implemented in three districts in the Volta Region by Future Generations International (FUGI), a Ho based NGO.

The districts are Ketu-South, Ketu-North and the Ho Municipal area, where prevalent rate figures are said to be very high. Mrs Joan Awunyo-Akaba, FUGI Director said the project would build permanent channels of communication and cooperation across all stakeholders, including commercial sex workers. Dr Anthony Ashinyo, Senior Medical Officer in charge of Sexually Transmitted Diseases put number of HIV/AIDS reported cases in Ketu in 2007 at 824 and 451 for Ho.

He said prevalent rate statistics might not reflect the exact picture of the situation because of social-cultural and economic realities that suggest that many carriers might not be captured by the surveys.

Dr Ashinyo said his unit was striving to manage HIV/AIDS patients and advised these patients to adhere religiously to treatment schedules. He corroborated the emergence of sex markets in Ho and Hohoe in the region, warning that an HIV/AIDS carrier who did not take precautions could be re-infected several times over. Ghana News Agency investigations indicate that business at the sex market in Ho, which had been murky for sometime, was slowly becoming evident.

Sources said besides those who show up at the spots to solicit for men, there were other cycles that operated mainly through quasi pimps. In contrast to Ho, sex market activities at Aflao, has clearly demarcated zones where sex workers ply their trade.