Most adult males say they are not at risk of HIV/AIDS

Professor Sakyi Amoa, Director-General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, on Friday said about 58 per cent of adult males in the country do not perceive themselves as being at risk of contracting the HIV/AIDS virus.

He said though the level of awareness created among Ghanaians was about 99 per cent, the personal risk perception was very low.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra, Prof. Amoa said men always see women as the carriers and not them, "but the fact of the matter is that men are rather the drivers of the epidemic".

This, he said, was because men tended to have more partners than women thereby making them very vulnerable in contracting the virus.

Prof. Amoa noted that though the prevalence rate was 3.6 per cent "we should not relax but work harder to ensure that it is reduced to the very minimal".

The menace has always been associated with some groups of people like prostitutes and "bad nuts" in society, he noted, saying this perception should be stopped.

"We should all rather see ourselves as being at risk and live decent life-styles."

At the end of September 2002, a cumulative total of 60,312 cases had been reported throughout the country, but this only accounts for those who reported at health facilities.

He said majority of the people infected were the age group 15-49 with the ratio of female to male standing at 2:1.

Prof. Amoa noted that despite all the efforts by the Commission, National AIDS Control programme, Ghana Social Marketing Foundation and other stakeholders about abstinence, being faithful and the use of condom there has not been any significant change in the prevalence rate.

"The knowledge about the use of condom as an effective method of prevention is about 90 per cent among adults. Yet, condom use is very low such that 16 per cent of men and six per cent of women are known to have used condoms at their last sexual activity."

Prof. Amoa urged Ghanaians to change their attitude, live decent lives and everybody perceive himself or herself as being at risk of contracting the virus.