Ashaiman, Sept. 15, GNA - Women who are subjected to beatings for insisting that their partners use condom before sex have the right to report to the law enforcement agencies, Mrs. Constance Adda, an AIDS Counsellor of the Public Health Unit of the Tema Polyclinic stated at the weekend.

She said the human rights law empowers everyone to insist on his or her right, therefore, it is the privilege of women to insist on protected sex if they feel to do so by the use of the condom, , otherwise they equally have the right to refuse sex when that happens. Mrs Adda, however, warned that condom is not 100 percent secured if not handled properly and advised that abstinence should be the best practice.

She was speaking at a durbar organised by the "Save Them Young Mission Incorporated" (STYMI), a non-governmental organisation (NGO) on AIDS, for chiefs and selected youth groups at Ashaiman and surrounding communities.

Mrs Adda said research had shown that almost all Ghanaians know the existence and the mode of transmission of the dreadful disease and that what is left is behavioural change to avoid contraction. She advised the public, especially the youth to shun immoral behaviour because the disease is real. They should rather go for voluntary AIDS test in order to know their status before they could be convinced about faithfulness.

Mrs Patience Arthur-Baddo Tema Municipal Education HIV/AIDS Focal Person noted that the pandemic had become a global crisis that required bold leadership.

"It has become a social and an economic issue that is expected to greatly affect the future of almost every individual if left unchecked." She stated that sexual contact contributes 80 percent of the disease while mother to child transmission, blood transfusion, common use of syringes are minor factors and that the youth, particularly, those between 19 and 49 years, are the most vulnerable.