WA, May 22, GNA - Dr Sylvia Annie, Director of Policy and Planning of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has asked Regional Coordination Councils set aside a day for all public servants within their jurisdictions to undergo voluntary counselling and testing for HIV. This, she noted, would help minimize the stigma and discrimination that was associated with the disease. Speaking at a workshop organized by the Commission to disseminate new procedures and discuss the action plan of work for this year, Dr Annie said HIV/AIDS could be well managed if it was seen to be like any other disease. She observed that stig ma and discrimination were still serious challenges and urged the participants drawn from the Northern, Upper East and West Regions to share and replicate practices that could help in removing the challenges. The Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Mahmud Khalid said as the level of productivity in the region continued to reduce, it had rather been witnessing an increasing trend in HIV/AIDS cases in the past three years.

According to him, the HIV/AIDS sentinel survey of 2007 showed that the region had a prevalence rate of 3.3 per cent which was above the national prevalence of 2.6 per cent and majority of them were between the 20 to 34 age brackets. "If poverty can be reduced in the three Northern Regions then issues of such diseases like HIV/AIDS prevalence are key challenges that must be overcome." He called for a serious discussion of negative cultural practices in communities in the area that were inimical to the fight against the disease.

Alhaji Zaid Tamimu, Upper West Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Focal Person said the region presented 42 project proposals to GAC last year out of which 29 were approved with 234,000 Ghana cedis provided for the implementation of their programmes.