Kwamankese(C/R), April 21, GNA - The President of Universal Christian Mission Association, an nongovernmental organisation (NGO) based at Mankessim in the Central Region, Reverend Isaac K. Gyedu has warned the youth to heed advice and stop joking with the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

He said all the good things that they expected their parents to bequeath to them would be a mirage if the disease attacked and eliminated them pre-maturely because of their sexual promiscuity. Rev. Gyedu was speaking at an HIV/AIDS sensitisation programme at Kwamankese in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District of the Central Region. He said people who doubted the existence of the disease should be extremely careful, stressing that the entire Ghanaian society was at risk as far as the HIV/AIDS was concerned.

Rev. Gyedu urged parents, opinion leaders and organized groups to intensify their public education on the infection to help to save lives. He further appealed to chiefs in Kwamankese and surrounding villages to come out with programmes and innovations that could go a long way to minimise the spread of the infection in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese District. Meanwhile, peer educators trained by the UCMA have embarked on a house-to-house and village-to-village sensitisation campaign with the view to cutting down the prevalence-rate in the area.