Saturday 1st December was World AIDS Day- a focus
for health and community action to raise awareness of a disease now treatable
in richer countries, but otherwise potentially life threatening and destructive
of families.
While Ghana’s official rate for HIV infection is the lowest
for West Africa, education, awareness, assertiveness and remaining faithful to
one partner are key to preventing growth in transmissions.
Average life expectancy in Ghana is now 62 years, with
improvements attributed to better ante natal, maternity and post natal services,
childhood vaccination and healthcare programmes and the introduction of the
National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) in 2004, giving individuals who
register, at a cost equivalent of 1 UK pound per year, access to free basic
health care, including malaria treatment.
Every Ghanaian displays a contentedness and happiness to be
alive, to be grateful for the day, paralleled with an awareness and acceptance of
the inevitability of death. And for every Ghanaian one meets through work,
through daily life, bereavement is a frequent experience: attendance at funerals
takes precedent and commands days rather than hours of time.
The principle causes of deaths, other than old age, appear
to be accidents or unexplained illnesses, with specifics hushed as they were in
the UK several decades ago.
A reluctance to discuss facts and be open about illnesses
allows superstition and stigma to persist and exacerbates the spread of
diseases such as HIV. Low literacy rates, particularly among women, (estimated +50%
illiteracy among females in rural North Ghana) and a subservient role for women
in the family and society, reinforced by ignorance, contribute further.
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| My friend Jane and I with some of the "dance troupe". Friday evening and Saturday morning were spent sweating in rehearsals, learning our moves. Watching visitors from other countries trying to dance Azonto- Ghana's most popular dance- caused much hilarity. |
This background prompted a number of volunteers based in a
small remote town in the rural Upper West of Ghana, joining with local health care
staff, to plan and prepare for a day of public awareness -raising. Working
through youth groups based in junior and senior high schools, a street march
with a six minute dance routine was rehearsed and T shirts ordered for the big
day, around the theme of “Get tested”, culminating in social fun activities at
the community centre and free HIV testing, using simple 5 minute blood test
kits, at the adjoining clinic, supervised by specialist medical staff.
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| The marchers process along the main road in Lawra- we were moving at jogging pace in time to the beats of the drumming |
About 200 joined the march through Lawra, accompanied by
drumming, a sound system and local Ghana Police Force officers, and 70 people (including
me) took an HIV test.
The street performance of the dance routine was filmed and should
be available on You-Tube-link to follow when available.
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