Ho, Oct 5, GNA - A three-day training programme on the 2010 population and Housing census for media personnel has ended in ho, in the Volta Region.

The UNFPA organised the training for members of the Media and Communication Advocacy Network, to educate them on the census so that they could better inform the public on their responsibilities towards the national exercise. Participants were taking through the processes of the census and how far officials of the Ghana Statistical Service had gone far with preparations. The participants also toured UNFPA sponsored facilities to see how they operate.

Among the facilities were the St Anthony's Hospital at Dzodze, Domestic Violence and Victims Support Unit (DOVVSU) in Ho, and Village Exchange, Ghana, a community based centre, which engages in youth/adolescent reproductive health education and counselling, micro-financing and vocational training. The Regional Police Commander, Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), David Nenyi Ampah Benin, expressed the need for victims of domestic violence to report cases early to aid investigations instead of the usual late reporting that "makes it difficult to investigate such cases". He said a clinic was being built at the Police Training School in Ho, to encourage victims of rape and defilement to easily access health care. ACP Benin appealed to UNFPA for assistance in the form of vehicles, office accommodation and equipment to facilitate the work of DOVVSU in the region. Madam Doris Aglobitse, Resource and Mobilisation Officer of UNFPA said her organisation would consult other stakeholders to explore ways of assisting the unit.