More Professionals Contracting HIV/AIDS � UNAIDS Report Reveals

According to UNAIDS Country Coordinator in Ghana, Mr. Girmay Haile, the latest trend of infections among the middle class-professionals, musicians, celebrities, university students among others is alarming, and calls for a programmatic approach to dealing with it. These are individuals who are considered knowledgeable and are also thought to be well informed about the dangers of the disease. However, recklessness, the desire to keep multiple sexual partners, among many others, has made them become more exposed to the AIDS virus than the lower class. A UNAIDS report from World AIDS Day 2012 states that Ghana, at 66%, is one of the 25 low to middle-income countries � mostly in sub-Saharan African who are seeing more than a 50% reduction in the rate of new HIV infections each year. But Mr. Girmay Haile said these gains risk being eroded quickly unless a strategic communication is adopted to reduce the infection rate of HIV/AIDS among the youth. The Country Coordinator was interacting with a group of celebrities comprising musicians, footballers, journalists and movie actors, who signed a pledge to support the UNAIDS� �Protect the Goal� Campaign in Accra. The celebrities also recorded short video messages that will be used to drive the campaign.