Sunyani, March 8, GNA - A two-day training programme for 34 peer educators on HIV and AIDS selected from Sunyani Municipality and Sunyani-West District has ended.

The Project Director of Health Foundation of Ghana, one of the three non-governmental organisations that jointly organised the workshop, Mr Samuel Tovor, said the programme was part of a 2010 Multi-Sectoral HIV and AIDS Programme (MSHAP). The MSHAP aims at equipping peer educators with the knowledge and skills about the pandemic so they can guide people in their communities in the fight to reduce the spread of the new infection virus of HIV and AIDS.

The Global Media Foundation and the Sixth March Foundation were the two other NGOs that organised the workshop, funded by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC).

Later speaking with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview Mr. Raphael Godlove Ahenu, Project Officer of Global Media Foundation, said Berekum Municipal Area was another coverage point of MSHAP's programme.

He said peer educators had been grouped into two sectors namely, "In-School" and 93Out-School" with the latter group constituting 32 students selected from Senior High Schools. He said part of the function of the peer educators in the "Out-School" group was to meet their clients and discuss issues about HIV/AIDS in their communities and also distribute condoms and other recommended materials.

The other group in the 93In-School" concentrated on one-in-one education on the pandemic with their colleagues. In all, Mr. Ahenu said the 93In-School" group consisted of 32 member-students and 34 for the 93Out-School".

He advised members of the 93Out-School" group to refer their HIV/AIDS or Sexually-Transmitted Disease (STD) patients in their communities to recognized medical facilities. To avoid any inconvenience and disappointment, peer educators must make their clients and patients understand in advance that they would pay for any treatment they might receive at any of the referral hospitals.