Accra, April 19, GNA - A day's training programme for Community-Based Hygiene Volunteers of the Church of Christ took place in Accra over the weekend with a call on the participants to intensify the education for people to live healthier lives.

Mr Nathaniel Adams, Project Director of the Church's Rural Water Development Project (RWDP), who made the call said the education would also enable residents in the various communities to develop socially, spiritually and economically.

The programme, the third to be organized by the church, was for 51 volunteers drawn from branches within the Greater-Accra Region. They were taken through topics like "HIV/AIDS Pandemic and Prevention", and Data Collection and Report Writing.

Mr Adams underscored the need for practical efforts by communities to ensure proper waste disposal by engaging in hand washing with soap and flowing water at all times.

Mr Adams reminded the volunteers that, so long as they were willing to share their talents and experiences with others for good health voluntarily, they were doing the will of God.

He reminded Ghanaians that by leading Godly and clean lives within clean environments, they would not only avoid the outbreak of epidemics, but would also improve their economic and social standards.

Mr Abednego Chigumbu, Hygiene and Sanitation Officer at UNICEF stated that even though communities were surrounded by a lot of diseases, many of them could be prevented through behavioural changes of the people.

Mr Felix Donkor-Badu, Extension Services Specialist at the Greater-Accra Regional Office of the Community Water and Sanitation Agency, reiterated the need for the youth to guard against casual and pre-marital sex, in order to avoid contracting the deadly HIV/AIDS disease.