Wa, May 03, GNA - The HIV/AIDS Secretariat of the Ghana Education Service (GES) has began series of "Training of Trainers" workshops to equip teachers with skills and methodologies to integrate issues on the pandemic in the curriculum of basic and second cycle institutions. Mr Cletus Paaga, Upper West Regional Director of Education, addressing the opening session one of such workshops in the northern sector at Wa on Tuesday, urged teachers to be effective agents in the dissemination of information on the disease.

He said they should in addition, endeavour to protect themselves first and foremost teachers and their pupils and students from contracting the disease.

District Training Teams from 18 districts drawn from Northern and Upper West Regions attended the workshop. Mr Paaga asked the participants to present issues on the pandemic in the most practical, participatory and consistent manner to ensure that the behavioural change Ghanaians were yearning for could be achieved.

He said the pandemic had contributed to increase in mortality in almost all age groups with its severest impact among the economically productive segment of the population including teachers. Mr Paaga said the country could not afford to fall into the category of countries such as La Cote D'Ivoire where records available indicated that AIDS accounted for seven out of every 10 deaths among teachers in 1998 or Zambia where 1,300 teachers lost their lives through the pandemic within 10 months.

Mrs Hilda Eghan, HIV/AIDS Coordinator of GES, said the major goal of the secretariat since its inception in 2002, was the provision of preventive education to personnel in education particularly teachers, pupils and students.

She urged the District Training Teams to intensify their training programmes to ensure the Teachers-Agents of Dissemination and Change programme, which had become the fulcrum of the Secretariat's activities was successful.