Tema, Dec. 3, GNA - The prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in the Tema Metropolis, has increased from two per cent last year, to four per cent this year, Dr Kwaku Sarkodie, Group Medical Advisor at Unilever Ghana Limited, disclosed this on Wednesday.

Speaking at an education forum for school children to mark this year's World AIDS Day celebration in the Metropolis, on Wednesday, Dr Sarkodie said it was regrettable that the local prevalence rate of four per cent, was more than double the national average and also higher than the Greater-Accra Regional prevalence rate of 3.2 per cent.

The forum was jointly put together by Unilever Ghana, the Tema Metropolitan Assembly and the Directorate of the Ghana Education Service, to create awareness of the existence of the disease, among the children. Dr Sarkodie said since the focus of the celebration was on the young ones in society, "We must maintain the effort throughout the coming years so that they will be spared the temptation of engaging in risky behaviours." He advised residents in the Metropolis to re-double their efforts at reducing the spread of the pandemic, before they were overtaken by events. Giving statistics about the disease in the Metropolis, Mr Asare Bediako Brempong, Acting Metropolitan Co-ordinating Director, said people living with HIV at the end of the third quarter of this year totalled 2,462, made up of 1,704 females and 758 males.

He advised school children in the Metropolis to behave responsibly and lead healthy lives and advocated for the formation of HIV/AIDS Clubs in all schools within the Metropolis, to serve as platforms for the Youth to be properly informed of the disease and its deadly, devastating consequences. Mr Kwesi Hutchful, Metropolitan Director of Education pointed out that education plays an important role in the control of the pandemic, and for that reason, without continuous education about the existence of the pandemic, it would continue to spread. The occasion, which attracted pupils and students from selected first and second cycle schools within the Metropolis, had "Act Aware; Stop the Prejudice to Protect Yourself and Others," as its theme. 3 Dec. 10