U/W REGION HAS HIGHEST HIV INFECTION PREVALENCE (PAGE 11)

The Upper West Region is currently said to have had the highest HIV infection prevalence rate of 1.6 per cent in 2007.
That, notwithstanding, the prevalence rate in the Wa municipality in particular, which stood at two per cent, is still said to be higher than the national average of 1.7 per cent.
This prevailing situation has awakened many stakeholders in the fight against the HIV and AIDS pandemic in the region, since extra effort is required to reverse the trend. However, in the face of all the attempts by these individuals, institutions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) to reduce the rate of infection and ensure a positive behavioural change among people, there seems to be some obstacles.
These obstacles have been identified as the refusal of most husbands whose wives have tested positive to the disease, to undergo a voluntary test and know their status.
Another challenge is the practice where as part of widowhood rites, women are handed over to the brothers of their deceased husbands to continue the marriage. This practice has been code-named "Bye election". In many instances too, the women are handicapped and cannot negotiate for safe sex. All these are said to be hindering continuous efforts to minimise the rate of HIV and AIDS infection in the region.
It is worth noting that even though most women are prepared to go for the voluntary testing, the men are reluctant to do so. It is against this backdrop that two years ago, Action Aid, an NGO, decided to mobilise Women Living With HIV and AIDS (WLWHA) in some districts in the region to sensitise and empower them to complement efforts at fighting the spread of the pandemic. The group is also to serve as a mouthpiece and advocacy group for women who find themselves in such circumstances and continue to suffer injustices and the exclusion of various forms.
She said such people often had less say to matters affecting them and stressed that the PLWHA in the Upper West Region must be accorded all the attention and care to enable them to live normal lives.
Mrs Boateng pledged the support of Action Aid for the voiceless, the marginalised and the excluded and underscored the need for WLWHA to continue championing their cause and fighting against human rights abuses that confronted them.
"My sisters and mothers, we need your support in the fight against HIV and AIDS. You must, therefore, avail yourselves as ambassadors in the fight against the disease and not ambassadors for the spread of the disease," she emphasised.
The Upper West Regional Minister, Mr Mahmud Khalid, in his interaction with the WLWHA expressed grave concern about the effects of HIV and AIDS infection on childbirth as well as safe motherhood, and commended Action Aid for focusing on WLWHA.
Mr Khalid said "reducing mother-to-child transmission of HIV and AIDS is very much achievable and, therefore, if we could sustain the efforts in that direction, we would be contributing immensely towards the ultimate reduction of the HIV and AIDS menace".
He called on the stakeholders not to be complacent but to intensify their efforts and come up with more pragmatic ways of dealing with the menace, as well as caring for the PLWHA.
Mr Khalid further pointed out the need to empower more women to be able to negotiate for safe sex, stressing that testing of husbands for their HIV status must be made compulsory as part of efforts to reduce infections.