Accra, Nov. 6, GNA - The Global Fund has provided a-19-million dollar facility to further reduce the HIV/AIDS pandemic along the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor comprising five countries. Officials of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organization (ALCO) said on Monday in Accra that the facility would be used to continue the onslaught on the pandemic which prevalent rate was dropping and needed more impetus to kick it out.

Briefing the Ghana News Agency at a two-day consultative workshop for heads of Customs, Immigration, Police, Transport and National Media, Professor Sekyi Awuku Amoa, Vice-President of the Governing Board of ALCO, said ALCO carried a major successful campaign along the borders of Ghana-Togo-Benin, Cote d'Ivoire and Nigeria and was keen on making commercial sex workers to come out to make their operations known and be helped.

He said Ghana's prevalence rate had dropped from 3.6 per cent in 2003 to 2.7 per cent in 2006 while Nigeria whose rate was 5.8 per cent in 2001 fell to 4.5 per cent.

Togo's rate had dropped to 4.5 per cent from an earlier figure of 4.8 in 2003. Cote d'Ivoire and Benin had their rates falling from 9.7 per cent in 2002 to a current rate of 9.0 per cent and 1.9 per cent to 1.5 per cent respectively.

Prof Sekyi Amoah said the ALCO mandate, which would end in 2007 would be extended with the renewed funding.

He was hopeful that the World Bank, ECOWAS, UEMOA and other Development Partners would work on making HIV/AIDS a thing of the past. ALCO is an organization dedicated to curbing the spate of HIV/AIDS in the West African Sub-region especially along the borders of the five regional neighbours.

Mr Magnus Opare-Asare, Deputy Minister of Transportation said the provision of an efficient and effective movement along the various borders did not involve only presenting the required documents and identification certificates but also the need awareness of the problems facing transporters such as HIV/AIDS which ought to be worked at to curb it to the barest minimum.

He identified the number of hours spent on the corridor and the lack of coordination between uniformed personnel and road network agencies as some of the problems, which caused delays at transit points. He said the sub-region must be made to have a positive image without the pictures of diseases, malnutrition, hunger, civil strife and wars in which the region was painted.

"We can contribute our quota through this by way of trade among member countries," Mr Opare-Asare added.

A representative of Dr Mohammed Ibn Chambas, ECOWAS Executive Secretary said the support of ECOWAS to the ALCO project was a manifestation of commitment to help eradicate the pandemic and confirm to drivers and travellers that a state of free movement of people and goods was not a mirage.