Offinso (Ash), Jan. 10, GNA=96 Single Parent Foundation (SPF), a non-governmental organisation (NGO), based in the Offinso District of Ashanti, has donated food items worth 13.5 million cedis to be distributed to People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in the area. The items include 12 bags of maxi rice, 15 bags of Soya beans, six boxes of 93Frytol" cooking oil, three boxes of Geisha, canned fish, nine boxes of Ideal Milk, three bags of granulated sugar and six cartons of Key bar soap.

Part of the items, which were donated through the Ghana AIDS Commission were presented to some of the beneficiaries at a get-together party at Offinso on Monday.

Mrs Mary Owusu-Antwi, Director of the Foundation, said the gesture formed part of the organisation's care-and-support policy, adding that the NGO also assisted poor people to pay their medical bills. She said the Foundation established in 1999, has sponsored vulnerable children and AIDS orphans and that out of 217 orphans, 212 were schooling in the district.

Mrs Owusu-Antwi said a PLWHA unit has been formed within the Foundation to educate 87 PLWHA on life skills and to encourage them to go to hospital for medical care with the Foundation with support from Ghana AIDS Commission bearing the cost.

She advised other people living with HIV/AIDS in the area to join the group to benefit from the NGO's programmes. Oheneba Frimpong-Manso, the Offinso District Focal Person on HIV/AIDS activities, said the Government was committed to the care and support of PLWHA and was doing everything possible to ensure their survival and development.

He said the PLWHAs to take good care of their diets, take the correct dosage of their drugs, and lead good lifestyles so that they could live longer.

Miss Grace Lerewanu, a nutrition officer in the Offinso district, also advised PLWHAs to ensure that they live normal lives. Miss Georgina Konadu, Tuberculosis Co-ordinator, at the Saint Patrick's Hospital at Offinso-Maase and also HIV/AIDS Counsellor, said the hospital was liaising with the Foundation to support PLWHA.