The Christian Rural Aid Network (CRAN), a non-governmental organization (NGO), has disbursed a total of GH¢35,000 as loan to 70 petty traders in the Central Region out of whom 70 per cent were women. The Director of Microfinance of CRAN, Mr George Tokpo, was speaking to GNA on Thursday after a workshop organised by the NGO to educate the traders on the dangers of HIV/AIDS and its prevention in Cape Coast. Mr Tokpo said CRAN since 1998 had disbursed over GH¢7 million to 20,000 traders in the region, adding that people who wished to access the loan should form groups or associations. He advised the beneficiaries to use the loan to improve their businesses and not to mismanage it. On HIV/AIDS, Mr Tokpo asked the traders to keep themselves healthy and go for Voluntary Counselling and Testing to know their HIV status. The Central Regional HIV/AIDS Control Programme Officer, Mr Sam Yenyi, called on the beneficiaries to know their status in order for them to guard against contracting the disease. Source: GNA