Accra, Sept. 16, GNA - Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre (Gender Centre) has launched a special research report on HIV/AIDS dubbed: "Gender Norms, Domestic Violence and Women's Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS."

The research was aimed at establishing empirical evidence on the link between gender, violence and HIV/AIDS, the extent at which gender based violence or other types of abuses such as neglect of women's right leads to infection rate among women. It also touched on the extent at which social issues affects the infection rate, its impact on the social status of women, examined current policies in addressing the pandemic and made recommendations for policy formulation and action on the transmission and infection of HIV/AIDS.

Launching the report, Dr. Sylvia Anie Akwetey Director of Policy at the Ghana Aids Commission, said although Ghana was experiencing low prevalence rate in Africa there was the need to take effective measures to check the pandemic.

This, she said was due to the fact that, more women were being infected by the virus, thereby putting the nation's population at risk. Dr. Akwetey said one of the ways of combating AIDS/HIV was to break the silence surrounding the virus and provide the opportunity for people to speak about it.

"We don't need to be afraid of HIV/AIDS, because it can be managed, so we must break the silence," she stressed. She said the Commission would soon come out with a strategic document on how to combat the virus, adding that most of the issues raised in the manuscript would be factored into the strategy. Dr Akwetey expressed the hope that the book would promote behavioural change and help reduce HIV/AIDS in Ghana. Madam Betty Akumatey, a lead researcher on the project said the study, discovered that issues such as the lack of sexual knowledge by women, acceptance of male promiscuity within the confines of marriage, polygyny as well as the belief that sex was a woman's marital obligation were the major contributing factors leading to the spread of the virus. She noted that infertility among women and their search for children, choice of marital partners, widowhood inheritance and domestic violence have also been discovered as ways by which the virus could spread.

Madam Akumatey said there was therefore the need for Ghana to intensify the efforts to deal with stigmatization and discrimination of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs). She also proposed the provision of financial support to PLWHAs to enable them to restart their businesses in order to generate income to cater for themselves. Madam Akumatey suggested the need for the State to offer them with housing rights and legal protection at their work places. She said the medical authorities should ensure that the AIDS/HIV status of patients remained confidential whilst voluntary counselling and testing should be encouraged.