Ghana records 220 cases of HIV/AIDS daily

Kumasi, July 6, GNA - A recent survey by the Ministry of Health (MOH) has established that 220 cases of HIV/AIDS were recorded daily nationwide. The survey, carried out about two months ago, also established that prostitutes in the Ashanti Region had one of the most prevalent cases of the disease in the country recording 87 percent as at May 2003. Mr Joseph Sarfo Antwi, Ashanti Regional Head of the Health Education Unit of the MOH, made this known at a ceremony to climax the Archdiocesan Catholic Youth Organisation (CYO) HIV/AIDS awareness week in Kumasi on Saturday.

About 900 youth from all the parishes in the metropolis participated and were sensitised on the mode of transmission of the disease, its symptoms and methods of prevention. Mr Antwi reminded the youth that there was the need for them to lead sex-free lives if they were to realise their God-given talents and become responsible adults in future. He advocated the formation of more virgin clubs in the metropolis as a way of reducing the rate of infection that threatened to soar in the next two years.

Mr Yaw Owusu Asabre, chairman of the Kumasi Archdiocesan CYO, observed that the week was also in commemoration of Saint Maria Goretti who led a holy life in spite of peer and family pressure and called on the participants to emulate her exemplary life.