The General Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), Mr Samuel Anim, has observed that, although the desired results of the fight against HIV/AIDS had not been achieved, some advances are being made in combating the menace. He said despite figures of the prevalence rate, the fact that about 98 percent of people were aware of the modes and prevention of transmission, the efforts of government and all other organizations that had joined forces together to eradicate the disease had not been in vain. Mr Anim said this at an outreach programme organized by the YMCA in collaboration with the YMCA Canada as part of the AIDS project for the youth in the Eastern Region in Koforidua on Friday. Reacting to calls by a section of the public that other diseases should also be given attention, Mr Anim stressed that since the cause of AIDS was known and the major mode of transmission was a natural human activity, it needed a concentrated effort. According to him, the YMCA had selected the AIDS project as its priority due to the devastating effects it had on society and urged the government and all other organizations committed to the fight, not to relent in their efforts. He cautioned that, if efforts to combat the pandemic were relaxed it would be a big loss on humanitarian grounds. The Municipal Focal person on AIDS, Nana Kwaku Boateng disclosed that a survey conducted by SHARP, an organization facilitating the fight against AIDS showed that 39 percent of the national prevalence rate was from prisoners. He said the survey also revealed that 19 percent was through the practice of homosexuals and stressed the need for efforts to be concentrated on those groups to ensure a holistic approach to combat the pandemic. Mr. Boateng said the survey further revealed that 38 percent was also from commercial sex workers, adding; “indications are that if these three groups were not tackled effectively, we cannot reach our goal”. Source: GNA