200 avail themselves of voluntary testing and counselling

Cape Coast, Dec. 23, GNA - More than 200 residents in the Cape Coast township, on Monday voluntarily turned up to be tested for HIV/AIDS during a forum dubbed "know your HIV status campaign" in commemoration of 'World AIDS Day' in the metropolis. It was organised by the Central Regional Coordinating Council in conjunction with the Regional AIDS Committee.

In an address, the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Focal Person on HIV, Ms Etonam Nyayorme, noted that the prevalence rate of HIV/AIDS in Cape Coast was 3.4 per cent.

She said 2.9 per cent of the cases were mother to child transmission.

Given a breakdown on the prevalence rate of the disease in the region, she said the Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa district has the highest of 3.9 per cent, with the Assin North district having the lowest prevalence rate of 1.3 per cent. She reiterated government 's commitment to combating the disease to enhance the country's human resource, and urged everyone to endeavour to go for the Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VTC) to enable those infected access early treatment. Ms Nyayorme expressed concern about the discrimination and victimization of persons living with the disease, stressing that they were also "human beings like us", who need to be supported and encouraged to live normal lives. She cautioned the people against seeing the Christmas festivities as an occasion to indulge in multiple-sex, and to endeavour to lead responsible lives.

The project officer of the local branch of 'Hope for Future Generation' an NGO, Mr Edem Hini, who was one of the counsellors at the forum, stressed that it was important to counsel people before they went in to be tested for the disease in order to prepare them for the result.

He advised those who did not have the virus after they had been tested to be careful with their lifestyles and urged those living with the disease not to think their lives had come to an end. 23 Dec. 08