Herbalists to join the fight against HIV/AIDS

Accra, Aug. 19, GNA - Mrs Esther Apewokin, Director of the Policy Unit of the National Population Council (NPC), on Tuesday, urged herbalists to collaborate with stakeholders to find a remedy for HIV/AIDS.

She said traditional healers have a very important role to play in the fight against the menace and such a role should not be undermined. Speaking at a day's sensitisation workshop for traditional medicine practitioners in Accra on the interrelationship between the population and HIV/AIDS, Mrs Apewokin said collaborating with stakeholders would also enable practitioners to disseminate the appropriate information on the menace to their clients.

The workshop was also to promote right atmosphere for effective action against HIV/AIDS in Ghana and advocate for the initiation of more programmes on the menace to complement the existing ones.

It was organised by NPC in collaboration with the Population Impact Project (PIP) of the University Of Ghana, Legon and the Ghana AIDS Commission.

Mrs Apewokin noted that some traditional medicine practitioners have claimed that they have found a cure for HIV/AIDS but scientifically, "no cure has been found yet".

She explained that what traditional healers have done was only to control the opportunistic infections and prolong the life of patients and that could not be described as a cure.

She said a sizeable number of Ghanaians consulted traditional practitioners for their health needs, therefore, "the right information must be sent out since such announcements influence the behaviour of people".

Mrs Apewokin said steps were being taken to legalise herbal and other preparations on HIV/AIDS and called for septic techniques to be used to ensure that patients were cared for to prevent the spread of the virus.

As at December last year, a cumulative total reported cases of 64,120 have been recorded with the peak age group of 30-34 years. The nation's prevalence rate is 3.4 per cent.

Mr Edward Asubonteng-Manu, a Senior Research Officer of PIP, said no sector could handle the problems associated with HIV/AIDS alone and he reiterated the need for the traditional healers to join the fight. He said deep rooted socio-cultural practices, misconception about HIV/AIDS, stigmatisation, inadequate resources and false claims among other things have been listed as some of the issues affecting the prevention and control of the epidemic and called for a concerted effort to fight it. 19 Aug. 03