Monday, February 11, 2008

25 QUEENS ATTEND WORKSHOP ON HIV/AIDS (Page 34)

Story: Emmanuel Modey, Alavanyo-Dzodezegbe

A sensitisation workshop aimed at intensifying HIV/AIDS education and support for people living with the disease has been held at Alavanyo-Dzogbedze in the Hohoe District in the Volta Region.
African Women Development Fund sponsored the workshop, which was organised by the Alavanyo Centre for Women Empowerment, for 25 queens and opinion leaders from the Alavanyo Traditional Area.
The participants shared ideas on how to sensitise their communities to the prevention of HIV, as well as providing the needed care and support for people living with the disease in the area.
Addressing the participants, Mrs Georgina Kpende, a focal person on HIV/AIDS, urged parents to discuss adolescent reproductive health issues with their children to encourage safer sex among the youth and thereby reduce the incidence of the disease.
She urged the participants to educate the people on the need to show compassion to those who had contracted the disease, reduce stigmatisation and discrimination as well as urge those who could not abstain from casual sex to use condom.
Topics treated at the workshop included HIV/AIDS in the district, the effects of the disease on women and children, stigmatisation and discrimination, condom usage and the benefits of voluntary counselling and testing.

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