Ambiguous messages on AIDS complicating fight

Mampong (Ash), July 15, GNA - A research finding has indicated that the ambiguous messages on abstinence and martial infidelity had increased the prevalence of the HIV-AIDS pandemic in the Asante-Mampong area.

Mr Jacob Amoah, a Pharmacist, said this at a workshop for peer educators on the HIV-AIDS prevention and family planning held at Asante-Mampong.

Mr Amoah said he conducted the research with Dr George Acquaye, the Medical Superintendent in-charge of the Mampong Government Hospital. He said bad sexual practices had broken natural barriers like the skin, vagina and the urethral passage and thereby resulted in the barriers inability to resist the entry of the AIDS virus.

Mr Amoah was critical of the practice where some women inserted herbs in their genitals to make the vaginal environment dry and less elastic.

''Such practices expose the woman and her sexual partner to the risk of getting infected by the HIV-AIDS and could also lead to cervical cancers and poor cervical dilation during childbirth.'' The Pharmacist also spoke of the need for balanced dieting to help reduce the incidence of blood transfusion.