Nsesereso (B/A), Nov. 7, GNA - The Dormaa District organiser of the Catholic Women Association, Madam Theresa Badu, has said the creation of jobs for the youth could stem the tide of HIV/AIDS in the country. She said if employment were made accessible to the youth, the issue of idleness and adventure and their attendant negative effects would be a thing of the past.
Madam Badu was addressing an HIV/AIDS forum at Nsesereso near Dormaa-Ahenkro organised by Life and Hope, a community based organisation in the Dormaa District.
She said young men and women who had nothing doing in their communities were bound to engage in activities to occupy themselves and wondered if such activities were commensurate with the moral requirement of contemporary society.
She appealed to the central government, traditional authorities, religious organisations and civil society to provide the youth with jobs to curtail crimes and the upsurge in rural-urban drift as well as the wanton search for non-existing white collar jobs.
Madam Badu appealed to mothers to minimise their lavish expenditure on funerals and other social activities and rather channel their resources into the provision of education for their children. She reminded parents that knowledge remained the only legacy that could not be snatched from their surviving children, hence the need to invest in it to provide a bright and secured future for them. Mr Seth Broni, the Programme's Director of Life and Hope, noted that figures showed very high awareness levels among Ghanaians, making it important for the intervention paradigm to be shifted to the necessary tools for behavioural change.
He reminded them to visit the voluntarily counselling and testing centre attached to the Dormaa Presbyterian Hospital to ascertain their HIV status. 07 Nov 06