Koforidua (Eastern Region) -- The HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in Koforidua, in the Eastern region, which was one per cent in 1996, has now reached 6.5 per cent. Other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs) are also spreading fast, says the regional AIDS coordinator, Dr. Sampson Badu Ofori.

He disclosed this in an exclusive interview with the Chronicle after a workshop organised at Koforidua for 20 teachers from selected districts in the region.

The workshop, which was under the theme: “My friend with HIV is my Friend” was organised by the Green Earth Organisation (NGO) to discuss how to reduce the stigmatisation of the disease in the system.

Dr. Ofori hinted that currently health workers in the hospitals are faced with the big problem of what to with the situation whereby families dump HIV patients in the hospitals.

“They know the symptoms and can tell when their relatives who are patients are about to die so they come to dump them at the hospital,” he explained.

The medical practitioner warned that nobody has the right to sack an HIV patient from a job, as he has the right to work until he dies. He disclosed that there are reports that some employers are sacking workers who become AIDS patients from their companies.

He stated that although 80 per cent of transmission is through sexual intercourse no one should be judgemental because everyone is at risk.

Dr. Ofori observed that the regional AIDS committee is becoming too dormant as awareness programmes have been put on hold, thus contributing to the increasing rate of late.

The director of programmes and education of the NGO, Mr. Joshua Awuku Apau, said the organisation saw the need to hold the workshop for the teachers because they are agents of change in their schools and communities.

“GEG does not concern itself alone about environmental issues but also the spreading of HIV/AIDS in our communities,” he said.