Mr Abdul Aziz Mohammed, Wa Municipal Chief Executive said care and attitudinal change were what Ghanaians needed as weapons to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country.
He therefore called for the incorporation of attitudinal change lessons into the educational curriculum and the development of other programmes to sensitise the people about HIV/AIDS.
Mr Mohammed was addressing a group of informal workers, including traditiona birth attendants at a day’s workshop on infection control and procedures on HIV/AIDS in Wa on Tuesday.
He expressed worry that the prevalent rate of HIV/AIDS in the region stood at 5.8 per cent.
The Municipal Chief Executive appealed to people in the municipality to volunteer to have HIV/AIDS test to know their health status on the disease.
Mr Mohammed also urged the people to accept the use of condoms as preventive measure to stem the spread of the disease and other sexually transmitted diseases.
He said even though government was working hard to reduce the prevalence of the disease, much was also needed from the private sector to fight the pandemic.
Mr Mohammed urged the participants to take the lessons learned at the workshop seriously, since mistakes made by them could infest other people with HIV/AIDS.
He said HIV/AIDS has the potential to undermine government efforts at building a formidable workforce that would move the country forward.
Madam Christine Choka Seidu, Executive Director of Sung-Bawiara Foundation, a local NGO, said HIV/AIDS had taken the centre stage in all aspects of the socio-economic programmes and activities of the country.
She said for past year, the activities of government and NGOs had concentrated on basic knowledge about HIV/AIDS.
She said however very little had been achieved in the areas of infection control and procedures.
The Sung-Bawiara Foundation organised the forum with funding from Mr Sharp through the Wa Municipal Assembly.
