Apam (C/R), Nov. 12, GNA - The Central Regional Population Officer, Mr Paul L.K. Djan has called on district assemblies to take population programmes as integral part of their development process.

Mr Djan said population programmes in general and adolescent reproductive health issues in particular should be seen as important enough to justify allocation of sufficient resources by the assemblies towards their implementation.

He was speaking at the launch of African Youth Alliance (AYA) Project at Apam.

AYA Project, which has the youth as its target is being implemented in Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania and Botswana and is being sponsored by an alliance of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), and Pathfinder International.

It covers development of advocacy strategies, integration of reproductive health into training programmes for both students and out-of-school youth and the reduction of the incidence of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS.

The project is being implemented in five districts in the Central Region, namely, Gomoa, Awutu-Effutu-Senya, Cape Coast, Assin and Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abirem. The implementing partners are the Ghana Education Service, the National Youth Council, the Ghana Health Service and the Planned Parenthood Association of Ghana. More

Mr Djan said out of the national population figure of 18,912,079, adolescents account for 5,768,184 constituting 30.5 per cent and said the support they received from their families, the communities and the government would determine their own future and indeed the future of the country.

He urged the selected districts to integrate AYA and other population activities into their development plans.

In a speech read on her behalf, Miss Joyce Aidoo, Gomoa District Chief Executive expressed gratitude to the African Youth Alliance and the National Population Council for selecting the district among four others to implement the project.

Miss Aidoo gave the assurance that the assembly would place the project on top of its development agenda by providing counterpart contributions to make the project sustainable.

She urged the implementing agencies to come out with projects and programmes that would fill the knowledge gaps in understanding the behaviours of adolescents, attitudes and motivations to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS and promote family planning practices.

Mr Eric Akobeng, the District HIV/AIDS Focal Person commended the Ghana AIDS Commission for sponsoring eight community based organisations and five non-governmental organisations in the fight against the spread of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the district. Mr Akobeng who is also the Focal Person for the AYA Project pledged the commitment of the implementers to the reproductive health problems facing the youth of the area.

The District Population Advisory Committee DPAC was also inaugurated at the function .