A three-day workshop for facilitators and resource persons of HIV/AIDS opened at Abokobi, near the capital Accra on Monday with a call for a decisive action to address the challenges of the disease.

Mrs Cecilia Bannerman, Minister of Manpower Development and Employment, who made the call, said the cost implications of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in terms of human resource and skilled labour for any nation is enormous.

\"This calls for strengthening of efforts to expand the national response by creating conditions to ensure that the youth, women and other social groups establish partnerships with relevant institutions at the national and district levels to effectively fight the epidemic,\" she said.

Mrs Bannerman said government has established a supra Ministerial Commission to upscale and consolidate the national response to HIV/AIDS.

The workshop is being attended by 50 participants from Regional Co-ordinating Councils, District Assemblies and other government agencies.

It is aimed at sharpening the skills of institutions and individuals to be able to manage the widening scope of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support activities.

The workshop is also designed to train facilitators and resource persons on District Response Initiative (DRI), a programme aimed at empowering local level institutions to develop their own programmes to fight the disease.

Mrs Bannerman said the success of response to control HIV/AIDS depends on public recognition of the disease.

She expressed the hope that the DRI programme, which encompasses 10 districts, will soon be extended to all 110 districts.

Mrs Cynthia Eledu, Country Co-ordinator of UNAIDS, said the UN agencies would continue to provide technical assistance to enable health personnel to work out modalities to combat the disease.