InterPress News Service - Thursday, October 8, 1998
Edward Ameyibor
Afiyo caught the disease in the Ivorian capital of Abidjan where she had gone to look for greener pastures but ended up in the "lucrative" sex trade. Her relations claim that the television sets, jewelry and expensive java prints (a colourful cloth worn by West African women) she used to bring home had put her on the witch's spotlight.
"This means our enlightenment campaign is not sinking deep enough in certain areas," said a medical doctor in the Ghanian capital of Accra this week. To combat the scourge, Ghana has embarked on a series of anti- AIDS campaign using the church, mosque, media, and peer groups to educate the society. But health officials have recommended a regional approach to stem the spread of the disease which follows a migration pattern in West Africa.
Emmanuel Apea, who is the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) representative in Nigeria, urged West African countries to integrate HIV/AIDS/Drug abuse into their school curriculum as part of the campaign.
He told a workshop in Accra last week that the campaign should target the youth because of their vulnerability to the virus.
About 650,000 (or 10 percent) of Cote d'Ivoire's population aged between 15 and 49 years are infected with HIV, in Burkina Faso the figure is 350,000, in Nigeria 2.2 million, Liberia 42,000, in Sierra Leone 64,000 and The Gambia 13,000.
According to Apea, about half the total number of those affected in the region are women. "Our women are disproportionately disadvantaged because of societal and cultural norms that do not permit them to skillfully negotiate sex," he said.
Health workers have identified ignorance as a major cause of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
"Many are ignorant of their causes, symptoms, cures and possible consequences and many afflicted persons do not seek treatment and continue to spread the disease," said Apea.
If the campign fails, Aids will become a major public health problem in Ghana by the year 2002, according to Ghanian health authorities.
The first AIDS case was diagnosed in Ghana in 1986. Since then, the disease had infected more than 200,000 people by late 1997.
"That is only 2.4 percent of the population. It is not alarming but the figure is likely to climb by the year 2000," said a Ministry of health official in Accra.
About 68 percent of the 30.6 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide are in sub-Saharan Africa.
In Ghana, studies have shown that AIDS infection is rising among school children, forcing President Jerry Rawlings recently to caution men, in an address at a girls high school, to desist from "chasing" girls.
Another study conducted in the Ghanian coastal town of Tema shows more than half of 40 pupils who voluntarily donated blood at a hospital were HIV positive. "This means older men have been sleeping with girls around 14 and above," said a government official.
All major hospitals in Ghana have blood screening equipment. "This is also creating other problems - reluctance to donate blood. The volunteers fear they may test HIV positive," said the official.
The Accra workshop urged all West African countries to integrate AIDS into their curriculum quickly. It says when children are educated of the dangers of AIDS, society will be protected.(END/IPS/ea/mn/98)
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