Tepa (Ash), Dec. 27, GNA - Mrs Elizabeth Nana Abudu, Ahafo-Ano North District Director of Education, has stated that it was only when individuals were aware of their HIV/AIDS status that they could take protective measures to keep their lives going. She said this when she opened a four-day HIV/AIDS workshop for 170 junior secondary school teachers in the Ahafo-Ano North District with the theme, "Teachers - Agents of Dissemination and Change" at Tepa.

Mrs Abudu said the school must now adopt new counselling roles to combat the pandemic and it was in this regard that a new image of the school, as a centre for the dissemination of messages about the HIV/AIDS to its pupils, students, staff and the communities was being promoted. She said it was for these and other reasons that HIV/AIDS education has been incorporated into the curriculum of schools with the view to imparting knowledge, attitudes and skills that would help promote the management of the disease for safer sexual behaviour and better health.

Mrs Abudu reiterated that HIV/AIDS was a killer disease, which had serious and significant impact on the country and appealed to people, who were charged with the responsibility of planning, implementing and managing policies and projects to take the sensitisation and education programmes on the pandemic seriously to avoid any negative impact.