It was observed in paper two that the Eastern Region, with about 70% of the region being rural and about 44% of its population living below the poverty line, recorded the second highest AIDS rate in the country. That notwithstanding, HIV sentinel surveillance data also indicates that this same region, with a regional HIV prevalence of 4.9% and with one of its towns having an HIV prevalence rate of 8.4%, has the highest HIV prevalence in the country (please note that the national HIV prevalence rate is 3.2%)6. In summary,
ü Parents are not telling children what they ought to know about sex and its associated risks. As such, children are being misled by popular culture as portrayed by the media.
ü A lot of young people are engaging in sexual intercourse at a very early age (some as early at age 11).
ü Most of these young people are highly at risk of getting infected with HIV because they either do not use any protection (for example, condoms) or if they do, do not use it properly.
ü Most AIDS patients are within the ages of 25 and 39, meaning that they contracted HIV at a very early age.
ü The Eastern Region of Ghana has the second highest AIDS rate and the highest HIV prevalence rate.
In light of the above, I propose the following:
1. Educating parents about the need to give some form of sex education to their children early.
2. Enhancing sex education in schools, especially senior high schools.
3. Encouraging peer to peer sex education initiatives.