Danyame (B/A) Dec 10, GNA - Four hundred new HIV cases were recorded in the Dormaa Municipality between January and September this year, Mr. Jones Anim, municipal disease control officer disclosed on Thursday. He said the trend showed that people in the municipality were not heeding to the call for behavioural change in spite of sustained education on the dangers of the pandemic.

Mr. Anim was speaking at a durbar and "Know Your Status" session at Danyame in the municipality on the theme: "Universal Access and Human Rights" jointly organised by Dormaa Traditional Healers and Birth Attendants (DOTHEBAA), and ACTIONAID Ghana, to mark World AIDS Day. Three other communities Nsesereso, Asunsu Numbers One and Two also participated in the one day session during which five primary schools competed in HIV/AIDS related poetry recital.

The disease control officer said sexual intercourse remained the single largest cause of HIV contraction, accounting for more than 80 per cent whilst all other causes shared the remaining 20 per cent. Mr. Anim deplored the lukewarm attitude of the people towards HIV counselling and voluntary test, saying the figures mentioned were got mainly through sentinel survey at the Presbyterian hospital in Dormaa Ahenkro. He appealed to the youth to avail themselves of the facilities to ensure early determination of their status. Mr. Benedict Combert, a Principal Laboratory Technician, noted that the HIV/AIDS menace could be better managed if the majority of Ghanaians submitted to voluntary test to know their status. Mr. Mahama Salaam, Programme Co-ordinator of DOTHEBAA, appealed to community leaders and family heads to impress on the youth to protect themselves to remain healthy and become responsible leaders in future. Nana Brafo Okofrobour and Nana Brafo Ababio, Chiefs of Danyame and Nsesereso respectively, who co-presided, urged the people to avoid acts and practices that could make them contract the disease. They pledged to make HIV/AIDS issues vital components of all social gatherings in their communities. Thirteen year old Sarah Owusuaa of Asunsu Number Two Roman Catholic Primary School won the poetry recital contest with a poem that captured all aspects of the disease from HIV acquisition, through the symptoms to the grave. More than 60 people went through counselling and voluntary test during the session. 11 Dec.09