Akwatia Aug. 2, GNA-Seventy two students drawn from Youth Alive Clubs in selected second cycle institutions in the Eastern Region, on Thursday ended a five-day workshop on reproductive health at Akwatia. The workshop, which was organized by Mathew Chapter 25, a non-governmental organization (NGO), was aimed at creating awareness on reproductive health among the participants, to enable them to educate other people on the subject.

Mrs. Akosua Adu, the Regional Director of Education, expressed worry that some people with HIV/AIDS were intentionally infecting others with the disease.

She attributed the rise in HIV/AIDS partly to parental neglect of children and appealed to parents take good care of their children. Mrs. Adu charged the participants to be role models and to impact the knowledge they had acquired at the event to their colleagues at school.

Father Alex Bobby Benson, Director of the NGO, expressed optimism that the workshop would assist in effecting behavioural change and prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS.

He reminded the youth that the huge investments being made in their development by their parents and government would be useless if they became infected with the disease. Father Benson advised the public not to stigmatise people living with the disease, to prevent such people from operating underground to revenge against the society. 02 July 07