GJA launches HIV/AIDS project

Saturday, September 19, 2009 (The Mirror Pg 34)
By Rebecca Kwei
The Acting Director-General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Dr Angela El-Adas, has called on the media to use its agenda setting role to educate the public on the need to lead healthy lifestyles so as to prevent the spread of the HIV infection.
She said the media was an important partner and had a vital role to play in the campaign to reduce HIV related stigma and discrimination in the society.
Dr El-Adas made the call at the launch of a Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) project dubbed “Using the Media to Create Public Awareness on HIV and AIDS” in Accra. The one-year project is being sponsored by the Ghana AIDS Commission.
The Acting Director-General said the commission recognised the need to engage the media in order to deepen knowledge on HIV and AIDS, enhance accurate reporting of HIV issues and keep HIV in the spotlight.
She said this year, the commission had supported more than 24 radio stations and other media houses across the country to intensify programmes aimed at behaviour modification and dispel misinformation/misconception surrounding the disease among others.
On the HIV epidemic, she said from 1986 to 2006, 121,050 AIDS cases were reported by the Ministry of Health and in 2006, about 297,000 Ghanaians were estimated to be living with HIV. Currently, about 240,000 Ghanaians are believed to be living with the virus.
She said the national adult HIV prevalence was 1.7 per cent which was a decline from the 2007 prevalence of 1.9 per cent.
She said the HIV epidemic in Ghana was described as a general one, with pockets of high prevalence among certain sub-populations and geographic areas.
However, she noted that these pockets of high prevalence had the capacity to increase the HIV and AIDS cases in the country and said it was important to use effective interventions to reduce the infection in those areas.
Dr El-Adas said over the next five years the commission would invest in evidence-based prevention interventions to avert new infections, while scaling up treatment and care efforts for those already infected and affected.
The President of the GJA, Mr Ransford Tetteh, said for an area such as HIV and AIDS, which is both technical and scientific, one must get the issues right before attempting to inform and educate the public.
Therefore, he said “we are pleased that through this project, we are going to educate ourselves more of HIV and AIDS, so that we can give this dangerous disease that still has no cure the deserved attention, so that we can employ the necessary mass communication strategies against it to be able to expose its dangers persistently and consistently to our people.”
Mr Tetteh said the project would organise training programmes for journalists specialising in health reporting.
Additionally, there will be an award scheme, where journalists who write exclusive stories on HIV and AIDS and related health issues will be rewarded. The writer of any story that is carried in the media and meets the criteria set will receive GH¢100. There will also be a special award at the 2010 GJA awards night.
The Programme Manager of the National AIDS Control Programme, Dr Akwei Addo, who chaired the launch, said although knowledge of HIV and AIDS was high, only a few of the population adhered to preventive methods.
He also appealed to the media to educate the public on the need to protect themselves from HIV, patronise Voluntary Counselling and Testing and not to stigmatise those who are infected and affected.