Kumbungu (N/R), Sept. 8, GNA - US Ambassador to Ghana, Mary Carlin Yates has launched the Opportunities Industrialisation Centre International's (OICI) Development Assistance Programme at the Leon H. Sullivan Food Security and Nutrition Centre at Kumbungu in the Northern Region.

A release from the US Embassy in Accra on Wednesday said OICI'S Development Assistance Programme (DAP) called ENHANCE (Enhancement of Household Agriculture, Nutrition, Risk Reduction and Community Empowerment) aims to reduce food and livelihood insecurity in 10 vulnerable districts in Ghana by the year 2009. This objective would be achieved by reaching some 130,000 direct and indirect beneficiaries in 250 communities.

One special aspect of the programme targets people living with HIV/AIDS, orphans and vulnerable children.

Ambassador Yates said: "Labour lost from HIV/AIDS victims and caregivers places a heavy burden on agricultural productivity and food security."

She announced that the US Government through the United States Agency for International Development was funding the five-year OICI Development Assistance Programme at a cost of 25 million dollars.