Scores of traders at the Lapaz New Market in the Anorhuma Electoral Area of the Okaikwei North Municipality have benefited from a day’s HIV sensitisation and free health screening exercise.
The exercise, organised by the Okaikwei North Municipal Assembly in collaboration with the Ghana AIDS Commission and Achimota Hospital, also offered traders screening for breast cancer and other health-related conditions.
Held under the theme, “Know Your Status, Get Tested, Get Educated; Get Protected,” the exercise aimed to raise awareness about HIV and encourage traders to take proactive steps towards protecting their health.
Speaking at the event, Madam Mavis Amofah, a Nursing Officer at the Municipal Health Directorate, said the exercise was important in helping traders know their health status and make informed decisions about their well-being.
She noted that participants also had the opportunity to check their blood pressure and undergo screening for other health conditions.
Madam Tabitha Ama Seglah, the HIV/AIDS Focal Person for the Okaikwei North Municipality, also stressed the importance of knowing one’s HIV status, explaining that such knowledge could help individuals make informed lifestyle choices and take appropriate steps to protect their health.
“As the HIV and AIDS Focal Person for Okaikwei North Municipal Assembly, we conduct sensitisation every month or quarterly to be able to know people who are affected with HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is a serious issue that we need to take into consideration,” she said.
Madam Seglah observed that many people continued to be affected by the disease without knowing their status.
“It is affecting people, it is taking lives, but people do not know their status,” she said, adding that the exercise was intended to sensitise traders and other residents within the Anorhuma Electoral Area on the need to get tested and know their status.
The Assembly Member for the Anorhuma Electoral Area, Hon. Kempis Yaw Boamah, urged the traders to take advantage of the exercise and participate fully in the screening and sensitisation activities.
Other participants included members of the Assembly’s HIV/AIDS Sub-Committee and staff of the Okaikwei North Municipal Assembly.
Source:onma.gov.gh
By Jeffrey De-Graft Johnson, AD IIB
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