Cape Coast, Jan. 31, GNA - Mr Ishmael Nana Ogyefo, Central Regional HIV/AIDS Monitoring and Evaluation Focal Person, has advised Ghanaians to take advantage of available facilities to check on their HIV status since it would help them to plan for their lives.

"Knowing ones HIV status should not scare us but rather help us to plan towards living longer," Mr Ogyefo said in an interaction with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Cape Coast.

He said Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) promoted behavioural change as it made people who tested positive to reduce sexual affairs to avoid increasing the viral load in their bodies whilst those tested negative took the necessary precautions against getting infected.

Mr Ogyefo assured the people that the Region had good trained counsellors to conduct the VCT and that none of their clients would have their status disclosed to people who needed not to know it. He said because of the importance the Region attached to VCT, arrangements had been made to carry the facility to institutions and work places such as markets and offices and called for the people's co-operation to make the exercise a success.

The Regional HIV/AIDS Focal Person, expressed worry about sexual behaviour of some of the youth, especially during festivals as if they did not believe in the existence of the pandemic. "HIV/AIDS is real, anyone who doubts it and adopts promiscuous lifestyles will live to regret," Mr Ogyefo cautioned.