"Flame Of Hope" torch at Ho

Ho, Nov. 10, GNA - The "Flame of Hope" being taken through the country on bicycles to whip up awareness on HIV/AIDS and the plight of those living with the disease arrived at Ho with a caution that "those who have the disease and don't know it might be more than those who have it and know it".

A female carrier, who said she preferred not to be named, gave the caution at a mini-durbar to receive the flame at the forecourt of the Regional Administration on Sunday.

She told the people, who gathered that she had the disease from a cheating husband and urged society to do away with the notion that People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAS) had been promiscuous or immoral. Mr Cephas Ofori, Focal Person on HIV/AIDS at the Ho District Assembly, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that prevalent rate of the disease in Ho was 3.8 per cent, which was above the national average of 3.4 per cent.

Mr Mawutor Goh, Ho District Chief Executive (DCE), received the flame from Mr Richard Mawuko, who brought it from Koforidua and gave it to Mr Silvanus Hayibor, 25 and Joseph Ayivi who would take the flame through fives district to Tamale in the Northern Region.

The DCE expressed regret that despite the efforts by Government to curb the disease, the rate of infection kept rising.

Mr Pelmac Atiase, Event Coordinator at the Ghana AIDS Commission, said the disease "does not draw lines between people and knows no boundaries as it afflicts both the rich and the poor".

His suggestion that people took advantage of the free Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) this month to know their HIV status was greeted with grunts of disapproval.

Mr Atiase said apart from the free test available this month, cost for testing at most hospitals ranged between 20 and 25 thousand cedis for self-demand but free when requested by a Doctor.

The Flame of Hope is also to herald World AIDS day on December 1, which would be marked in Takoradi in the Western Region.