According to the acting Director of Technical Services at the Ghana AIDS Commission, Mr Cosmos Ohene-Adjei, the low patronage of condoms in the country was worrying in relation to efforts at ensuring the prevention of new cases of HIV infections and transmission of the disease from infected persons to uninfected people.

He said among the three preventive mechanisms to prevent HIV/AIDS transmission, including abstinence, faithfulness and condom use, it was the condom use that offers greater preventive mechanisms.

He has, therefore, encouraged the use of condoms to help prevent HIV spread or transferring of the virus from an infected person to an uninfected person.

Mr Adjei made the remarks during a presentation at the opening of a two-day workshop on HIV/AIDS reporting organised by the African Centre for Development in Accra.

The workshop, which is aimed at helping to end the epidemic by 2020 in Ghana, is being sponsored by the President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR/Emergency Plan) of the United State of America through the American Embassy in Ghana.

PEPFAR is a United States governmental initiative to address the global HIV/AIDS epidemic and help save the lives of those suffering from the disease, primarily in Africa.

The workshop brought together health journalists and media practitioners from both state and privately owned media organisations.

Mr Ohene-Adjei said as of 2016, more than 290,000 Ghanaians were living with HIV, but only 104,000 out of the figure were on treatment.

He added that many Ghanaians were unaware of their HIV status due to the stigma attached to the disease in the eyes of the public.

The PEPFAR Country Coordinator for Ghana, Dzifa Awunyo-Akaba in her address urged the participants to use their mediums to educate Ghanaians on the disease.

She expressed unhappiness about low coverage of HIV/AIDS stories in the media, saying that HIV/AIDS “is generally under reported or misreported in the media”.

According to her, accurate information on HIV/AIDS would guide many people in their response to the disease.

Dzifa Awunyo-Akaba, however, expressed optimism that the workshop would help create a generation of health reporters that would educate and inform the Ghanaian citizenry about the true state of HIV/AIDS.

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[contextly_sidebar id=”0LC2UxGn4vl1K5ZY0YUfzN8memPP94Gl”]According to him, such position will help Ghana position itself in the continent’s growth.

Dr Bawumia made the comment while contributing to a panel discussion on “Leapfrogging Development: The African Story,” at the 5th World Government Summit currently ongoing in Dubai, UAE.

He noted that there was a great potential for Africa’s growth leveraging technology and that opportunity must be tapped urgently to realize the Africa’s growth.

He added that, “Africa has to understand that the process of leapfrogging must be homegrown and implemented in full…In the next five years, Africa will become the fastest growing continent.”

Other leaders on the panel were the president of Guinea, Alpha Conde, who is also AU Chairman and Mr Ashish Tkakkar, Founder of Mara Group and Mara Foundation.

Dr Bawumia is among the over 90 top government and business leaders who have gathered in the gulf country for the event.

The 3-day World Government summit which started on Sunday, 12th February will end on Tuesday 14th February with an awards ceremony.

The World Government Summit is a global platform dedicated to shaping the future of governments worldwide.

The annual summit sets an agenda with a focus on harnessing innovation and technology to solve universal challenges.

It functions as a thought leadership platform and networking hub for policymakers, experts, and pioneers in human development.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @jnyabor

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Government is looking at involving farmers in the development of a sugar cane plantation and giving them shares in the processing facility, Mr. Kyerematen indicated to Parliament’s Appointments Committee.

He also explained that government’s general plan for the $35 million Komenda Sugar factory is anchored on engaging the private sector, adding that such processes have been initiated.

“I think that the right thing to do is to bring in private sector participation. My understanding is that a process has been initiated. I intend to review that process and have it completed,” Mr. Kyerematen noted.

The Trade Minister nominee also spoke to concerns over the absence of a plantation to provide raw materials to feed the factory which is expected to produce about 1,250 tonnes of sugar each day.

“The defect that has been occasioned by not having a plantation developed to precede the establishment of the factory is being cured by a loan that has been approved by Parliament, $24 million, to establish a plantation to support the factory.”

“Hopefully government would also bring in private sector participation in the plantation development and more importantly to involve the farmers and make sure that they are given part of the shareholding in both the processing facility and the plantation development,”  Mr. Kyerematen stated to the committee.

Reducing sugar import bill

Government is also looking to significantly reduce Ghana’s sugar import bill given the right level of financing and conducive agronomy, according to Mr. Kyerematen.

Ghana is known to import about $300 million worth of sugar each year but with the coming on stream of the sugar factory at Komenda, the previous government expressed hope that it will reduce Ghana’s import bill on Sugar by more than 60%.

Mr. Kyerematen insisted that “Government ought to be interested in reducing our import bill for sugar. Producing sugar is not rocket science except that you need a combination of things, the right level of financing, the right agronomy to support the plantation development and so on and so forth.”

“I will support any move that will bring in additional investors to establish an additional sugar factory in Ghana so that by the end of the term of office of our government, we will probably have significantly reduced the import of government to the barest minimum,” he stated.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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