Health Personnel from the Ashaiman Municipal Hospital, with support from the Ghana AIDS Commission and the Ashaiman Assembly, on Thursday, 2024 conducted free HIV/AIDS tests for several hundreds of people at the Mandela Market.
The free medical exercise was to mark the 2024 World AIDS Day, which was on the theme: ‘Take the right path’.
However, the national theme was: ‘Ending AIDS together; stepping up prevention efforts’.
On Thursdays, hundreds of traders and volumes of vehicles from far and near thronged the Ashaiman Mandela Market to hustle for their daily bread.
Given the large number of people who visit the market on such a day, the team of health personnel and Ashaiman Assembly further set up free medical tests, including Blood Pressure (BP), Tuberculosis (TB) and Sugar.
Led by Juliet Selassie, the Focal Person for the Ashaiman Assembly, the team walked to sheds and stalls to educate and woo the people to take advantage of the day, to know their health status.
The stall-to-stall and shed-to-shed campaign strategy by the team drew numbers to the health screening tables, where more women were tested for HIV/AIDS, TB, Sugar and BP.
Excited at the participation, Juliet Selassie, the Ashaiman Assembly Focal Person told The Chronicle that “The previous years saw us reach out to schools and lorry stations. Last year, the day coincided with the National Farmers’ Day, so the team set up at the Divisional Command to test several people who graced the occasion.
“Today is the Ashaiman Mandela Market day and since the World AIDS Day is December 1, 2024, a Sunday, the team has come ahead of time to engage with the people and to share the information with them. We believe that they will propagate it in their communities. That way, we think we can drastically slow down the spread of HIV/AIDS,” she noted.
Condoms were distributed to both sexes who checked their HIV status, for protection against any form of STDs and avert unplanned pregnancies.
“Yes, so we are doing the same thing here for the community and this won’t be the last. We can’t wipe the virus out completely; we can only work hard as a country to reduce its spread.
“And we can achieve this when we carry the community along to lead in the campaign,” Juliet Selassie explained.
She educated the residents to shun sharing sharp objects, stop having unprotected sex if they can’t abstain and advised barbers to ensure that their machines are always sterilised.
“Let us all be vigilant when we go to the hair-dressing or barbering salons, where sharp objects are used,” she added.
