The Ghana Health Service has begun HIV education in basic schools in the Eastern region.
Elizabeth Owusu Ansah, a Public Health Nurse at St. Jospeh Hospital in Koforidua, disclosed that they have so far educated about 400 primary school students at Akwadum in the New Juabeng North of the Eastern Region.
She described the rate of new HIV infections as alarming and a threat to public health throughout the country.
In the first half of this year, 23,495 people in Ghana tested positive for HIV (January to June).
The figure represents 2% of the 948,094 people who underwent HIV testing between January and June 2022, according to Dr. Stephen Ayisi Addo, Programme Manager of the National STIs and HIV/AIDS Control Programme.
He attributed the figures to complacency and ignorance, explaining that health workers’ awareness creation had decreased.
Given this, the Health Directorate in the Eastern says the campaign to educate the pupils was crucial in preventing the spread of the virus.
This campaign is being launched in response to HIV cases. As a result, we are launching a campaign to raise awareness, prevent new infections, and ensure that our children receive comprehensive information on the best ways to prevent infection.”
She encouraged them to abstain from unprotected sex since it was one of the ways to contract the virus.
She also highlighted that the infection was predominant among same-sex persons.
The medical officer emphasized the importance of the students avoiding the same relationships, engaging in protected sex, or abstaining from sex until marriage.
She went on to say that those who inject drugs with the same needles should strop.
She advised pregnant women to always go for antenatal care so that the virus could be detected and prevented from spreading to their unborn children.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
