The practising of commercial sex activities by young girls in the Wa township, has become a major affront to efforts aimed at reducing the rate of spread of HIV/AIDS in the Upper West Region.

Out of 75 people who were tested for the disease at the Wa Regional Hospital between January and May, 45 of them were positive.

Similarly, out of 100 pregnant women who were tested for the disease in 2001 at Nandom Hospital, over 40 of them were positive, while during the same period, 102 pregnant women tested positive out of 204 at the Wa Regional Hospital.

Alhaji Zaidu Taminu, regional monitoring and evaluation focal person on the disease, announced this at a seminar at Wa.

He described the situation as alarming and called on traditional rulers, the clergy and health workers to collaborate with focal persons to fight the disease.