"Voluntary testing is significant in fight against HIV/AIDS"

Asankare (Ash), Jan. 23, GNA - Mr Fabian Belieb, Asante -Akim South District Director of Education, has underscored the need for people to voluntarily check on their HIV/AIDS status if the nation's fight against the dreaded disease could be successful. He said knowing one's HIV/AIDS status could help transform promiscuous lifestyles and eventually reduce the prevalence rate of the pandemic.

Mr Belieb made these remarks at an HIV/AIDS workshop for selected teachers and pupils in the District at Asankare, near Juaso on Tuesday.

Participants at the five-day workshop organised by the Ghana Education Service (GES), were drawn from all 58 junior high schools (JHS) in the District. The workshop formed part of the "HIV/AIDS Alert School Model", and integrated curricula developed by the GES to provide basic schools with the necessary skills to enable them to adopt positive behaviours to reduce the risk of contracting the disease.

Mr Belieb said the Socio-economic development of the nation depended on its human resource base and it was imperative to target pupils at the basic school level in the fight against the disease. He said government had over the years committed resources to fight against the disease since healthy people promoted development and urged the participants to effectively disseminate the message for the benefit of the larger society.

Mr Ampem Baidoo, District Officer in charge of School Health Education Programme, entreated teachers to prepare lesson plans on HIV/AIDS topics in such a way that would allow future evaluation of content and scope.

He called for effective collaboration between the participating teachers and pupils to ensure the knowledge acquired at the workshop was positively impacted on the pupils in various schools.