NGO organizes HIV/AIDS campaign at Nyankpala and Tolon

Nyankpala/Tolon, Sept. 29, GNA - The Youth Hope Project 2020 (YHP 2020), a local non-governmental organisation (NGO) operating in Tamale on has organized an HIV/AIDS sensitisation campaign float at Nyankpala and Tolon in the Tolon Kumbungu District.

A number of school children and some teachers, members of YHP 2020 as well as members of the public matched through the principal streets of Nyankpala amidst drumming and dancing.

At Tolon some farmers and market women could not help but join the brass band and matched through the main streets, carrying placards some of which read: "Be Wise, Stay Away From Casual Sex To Avoid AIDS"; "Careless Sex Is Like Sitting On Time Bomb"; "AIDS Has No Friend, So Don't Invite It Into Your Life" and "AIDS Is Real, Avoid Unprotected Sex".

The group at Nyankpala joined the one at Tolon and converged at the foreground of Tolon Lana's Palace where they were addressed. The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) sponsored the programme, which was under the theme: "You Are My Friend, Be Warned That AIDS Is Real".

Mr Osman Hamza, YHP 2020 Executive Director, said the HIV/AIDS scourge in Ghana was so alarming that it was important to target the rural areas where poverty was prevalent to reduce the spread of the disease. He appealed to traditional rulers to use their influence to check the exodus of the youth from the rural areas to the cities to prevent the high rate at which the disease was spreading.

Mr Hamza said poverty was one factor that influenced the youth, particularly females, into casual sex leading to the spread of the disease and that it was important for government to expedite action to reduce poverty.

He advised parents and religious leaders not to relent in their effort at discussing sexual issues and the causes of HIV/AIDS with their children to reduce its spread.

Mr Michael Opoku-Mensah, Tolon/Kumbungu District Coordinating Director, commended YHP 2020 for organising the float in Tolon and Nyankpala saying; "the people of the two towns would not be the same if such programs are organised frequently".

He said the Assembly was ready to support any group that was working to change the lives of the people in the District and called on members of YHP 2020 to extend the programme to the remotest areas of the Northern Region.

There was a drama performance, which aimed at educating people on the need to stick to one partner or abstain from sex so as not to contract the disease.