Chiefs urged to review practices that promote the spread of HIV The Eastern Regional Coordinator of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), Dr Sampson B. Ofori has called on traditional rulers to consider reviewing cultural practices that promote the spread of HIV. He mentioned the use of unsterilised blades for tribal marks,female genital mutilation and widows being forced to marry the relations of their dead husbands as some of the practices. Dr Ofori was speaking at an advocacy workshop organized by the Eastern Regional AIDS Committee for traditional leaders in the Kwahu Traditional Area at Mpreaso as part of activities to mark World AIDS Day in the region on Saturday. He explained that, the Kwahu Traditional Area was chosen for the workshop because of the increasing number of tourists to the area in recent times and the possibility of it providing grounds for increased HIV infection rate in the area. Dr Ofori urged the participants to champion the campaign against the spread of HIV in the Kwahu area and Ghana in general. The Eastern Regional Coordinating Director, Mr Samuel Bawa called on traditional rulers to seriously help address the issue of stigmatization and discrimination against HIV/AIDS victims in the region. He explained that, HIV-related stigmatization and discrimination remains an enormous barrier to effective response to the epidemic since fear of discrimination often prevents people living with HIV/AIDS from seeking early treatment or from admitting their HIV status publicly. The Eastern Regional HIV/AIDS Focal Person, Ms Golda Asante observed that, despite their training, even some medical staff discriminates against HIV patients. She said for fear of being sacked from their marital home or losing their partners as a result of stigmatization, many people who test positive of HIV never inform their spouses about their HIV status. Ms Asante said because of fear of discrimination, many HIV positive persons are not reporting to hospitals to seek support and treatment, while some had even decided to infect others, which is a threat to society. She appealed to the traditional authorities to offer quality leadership to help reduce the rate of infection and its threat to the country. In a speech read on behalf of the District Chief Executive for Kwahu South District Assembly, Nana Onwona Asante observed that HIV is just like any order disease and called on people to refrain from stigmatizing those with the disease. Source: GNA