The chief of Sabin Akrofrom in the Atwima Kwanwoma district of the Ashanti region Nana Osei Kofi is advocating for the use of culture in the fight to halt the spread of HIV/AIDS infection in the Ashanti region, for the future of the region and the country as a whole nation.
He said though the government is doing its part in the fight against the spread of the disease, traditional heads must also involve themselves by organizing durbars and sensitization programmes in their areas to educate youth on consequences of the dreadful disease.
Nana Osei Kofi who was speaking to otecfmghana.com on the current HIV/AIDS prevalence in Ashanti region said “the youth are the people who will take over from us when we are gone, if these people die before us, then where will be the future of this land, so the traditional leaders must get involve.”
The metropolis’ prevalence, according to the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), moved from 2.8 percent in 2015 to 3.4 percent in 2016, thus making Kumasi, the third town in the country with high HIV prevalence rate.
He said even though the HIV prevalence in the region keeps dropping, a lot needs to be done to make sure it drops to zero and that can be achieved through the use of culture.
“We should go back to the olden days when the young girls were made to go through puberty rites, this made them to abstain from sex till they are married. Every family had to make sure their girls are not pregnant before the maturity age to bring shame to them,” he added.
Sabin Akrofromhene tasked the queen mothers, who are considered as mothers for all and the custodians of cultural morals, to use their offices to organize the girls from time to time to engage the young girls and teach them traditional moral lessons that might help them to avoid premarital sex.
“The queen mothers are respected by all in our traditional setup and are closer to the girls than the chiefs, so they must organize and talk to them to avoid all sorts of enticements from the men, who may want to use them for their satisfaction. By this we can in some way halt the spread of the HIV/AIDS in the region,” he noted.
Source: otecfmghana.com/Ebenezer Amankwah
