Obuasi (Ash), June 6, GNA - More than 600 pupils and students drawn from five basic schools in Obuasi have attended an HIV/AIDS awareness forum at Enefel International School at Gausu, a suburb of Obuasi. The schools were Enefel, New Generation, Prestige Academy, Freeman International and Sagafia Arabic.

The programme, which was sponsored by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), was organised by the Kaleo Area Women's Development Association, an Obuasi-based NGO.

It was aimed at building the capacities of the pupils and students to enable them to resist all forms of sexual temptations and thereby protect themselves against the deadly HIV'AIDS disease. Miss Georgina Oklu, Deputy Director of Nursing Services (Public Health) in-charge of Adansi West, noted that it was very dangerous for pupils and students to indulge in early sex.

She said the youth were the future leaders and also the "window of hope" and therefore they must be protected from contracting the HIV/AIDS.

"If the youth are destroyed, Ghana will have no future", she emphasised.

Miss Oklu therefore urged parents educate their wards on the dangers of premarital sex.

She urged the youth to form abstinence clubs so that they could discuss freely their sexual problems as well as other social problems. Mr Albert Annadie, Director of the Kaleo Area Women's Development Association, said the association's aim was to raise the standard of living of women and children to enable them to protect themselves against diseases and other social evils. 06 Jun. 04