Kumasi, June 5, GNA - Mr Samuel Badu-Nyarko, Principal of the Institute of Adult Education in Kumasi, has asked counsellors to form clubs in churches, mosques, communities and workplaces to educate people on HIV/AIDS. He noted that the stigmatisation and discrimination associated with the disease, has been a major problem in fighting the pandemic and urged them to assist families to come to terms with people living with the disease, by giving them hope to live on. Mr Badu-Nyarko was addressing 39 graduates, who had passed out of a four- month Distance Education Course in HIV/AIDS Counselling and Care Giving in Kumasi on Saturday.

The course, jointly organized by the Institute of Adult Education and the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), aimed at educating them on HIV/AIDS so that they could in turn educate their communities on the pandemic. He said since 2004, the Institute in the Ashanti Region, through Distance Education, had so far trained a total of 248 HIV/AIDS counsellors.

Mr Badu-Nyarko appealed to the graduates to use their acquired skills and knowledge to counsel people on HIV/AIDS to help minimize the spread of the disease.

Mr Michael Boamey, Ashanti Regional Co-ordinator of HIV/AIDS Control Programme said, four hospitals in the region, namely Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi South Hospital, Bomso Clinic and AngloGold Hospital at Obuasi provided Anti-Retroviral Treatment (ART) for AIDS patients. He, therefore, appealed to people living with AIDS to attend those hospitals for treatment to help improve their health status. Mr Boamey urged the graduates to adopt more realistic and preventive strategies to help change people's behaviour. Dr Thomas Agyarko-Poku, Medical Officer of the Suntreso Hospital in Kumasi, appealed to the counsellors to be secretive in the discharge of their duties. 5 June 06