Accra-Ghana, May 4, GNA – A two-day training for selected Antenatal Care (ANC) in-charges and mentor mothers on sexual exploitation, Gender Based Violence (GBV) and Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is underway in Accra.
The training, organised by the Ghana AIDS Commission and the Christian Health Association of Ghana, is expected to empower participants with adequate information and skills to create awareness, prevent, report, support and refer SGBV, IPN and HIV/TB cases.
Participants for the training, aimed at strengthening community systems for protection from sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment, were drawn from the Volta, Oti, Eastern and Central regions.
Dr. Kyeremeh Atuahene, Director General, Ghana Aids Commission, who was speaking at the opening of the training, said Ghana’s AIDS response was at a crucial period.
“We are blessed with the scientific tools and proven strategies to end AIDS within this decade. however, challenges such as high level of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, And Harassment (SEAH), SGBV, IPV, and inadequate funding continue to hold us back from providing the full scale of essential HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support services that we need to end HIV and AIDS by 2030,” he said.
The Director General said SEAH and SGB, including IPV did not only dehumanise but also constitute a grave violation of the fundamental human rights and freedoms of victims, especially women, and girls.
He said though the state of women and girls -victims- was improving, required accelerated actions to reduce their vulnerabilities and empower them.
Dr Atuahene said prolonged stress from IPV could have both physical and mental health effects on women.
He said the increase in high-risk sexual behaviours had also contributed to high numbers of new HIV infections among adolescent girls and young women over the last five years
He said while high-risk sexual behaviours continued to rise, SGBV, including IPV, had become increasingly pervasive in the Ghanaian society and HIV prevention protocols least respected by individuals.
“These behaviour trends have contributed to high number of HIV new infections averaging 21,000 annually over the last five years. Of uttermost concern is the fact that new infections continue to occur in high numbers among our adolescent girls and young women,” he said.
