Koforidua (Eastern Region) - The Eastern Regional Office of the National Disaster Management Organisation (NADMO) is to form Virgins and Abstinence Clubs in first and second cycle institutions in the New Juaben North Constituency as a pilot programme to create awareness on the HIV/AIDS and sexual abstinence among school children.

The Eastern Regional Co-ordinator of the NADMO, Seth M. Ahyia, announced this at a roundtable discussion with heads of basic and second-cycle institutions at Koforidua on Thursday, to outline strategies for implementing the programme, with funding from the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC).

He explained that since NADMO's pre-occupation was to prevent and mitigate all forms of disasters before they assume crisis dimensions, it had decided to join the crusade in combating the scourge of the HIV/AIDS now before it expanded further.

Ahyia stated that the decision was also informed by the fact that while the statistics put the national HIV/AIDS prevalence rate at 3.6 per cent, that of the New Juaben Municipality was about 6.5 per cent, adding "what is of serious concern is that our youth, our future human resource base, are the most vulnerable group in view of their natural sexual activeness."

Opening the meeting, the New Juaben Municipal Chief Executive, Nana Adjei Boateng, who described the prevalence rate of the disease in the municipality as "a critical situation," stressed the need for intensification of the fight against the disease through the involvement of all sectors of the community.

He welcomed the involvement of teachers in the effort to save the youth from falling prey to the disease and called on the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) to make it a national crusade for its members to actively participate in the efforts to change the sexual behaviour of both the youth and adults.

Nana Adjei Boateng reiterated the warning to community-based organisations being funded by the GARFund against misapplication of the fund since they risked prosecution to retrieve the amount.

The New Juaben Municipal Co-ordinator of Health, Miss Rose Nani, announced that while the HIV/AIDS prevalence rate in the municipality was one per cent in 1999 it rose to 6.4 by last year, adding "all communities in the municipality report the disease nowadays at the local hospital."

According to her, the Koforidua Regional Hospital recorded 184 cases from the municipality out of the 500 cases from other parts of the region with the ages ranging between 15 and 49 years.

Mrs Charlotte Ofori, Municipal Co-ordinator of the Schools Health and Environmental Programme (SHEP), asked the teachers to equip the pupils and students with strong moral education to enable them withstand peer pressures as the only immunity from contracting the disease.