Know your HIV status through union initiative

Know your HIV status through union initiative

Activities under the HIV/AIDS Workplace initiative in Ghana funded by the Bill Morris Testimonial Fund for HIV/AIDS in Africa are in progress. A Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) clinic organized by the Timber and Woodworkers' Union (TWU) from 28 to 31 July 2009 in Kumasu, Ghana, was attended by 448 workers and members of their families. Ten workers (2.3%) who tested positive were referred to hospitals for further tests and treatment while others were offered counselling on the prevention of HIV/AIDS. VCT clinics are part of the activities currently underway in the one-year project implemented at a cost of £40,000 through TUC Aid.

30 participants from timber, wood, forestry, game and wild life sectors in Ghana also took part in an awareness-raising workshop on HIV-AIDS held in the Brong Ahafo Region in Ghana from 24 to June 2009. The three-day workshop was aimed at strengthening the workplace capacity to respond to the pandemic and providing basic information on the prevention, treatment and care for people living with HIV/AIDS. Health and safety officers from union branches and regions received training in counseling skills and on the dissemination of information and were provided with education material produced by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), International Labour Organisation (ILO) and trade union movement in Ghana for distribution through branches.

The HIV-AIDS Workplace Project was launched in January 2009 with a view to preventing HIV/AIDS through behavioural changes, improving the quality of life of workers affected by, or infected with, HIV and facilitating access to the Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT). It is expected that the increased knowledge of the causes of infection and changes in sexual behaviour will bring about a decrease in HIV/AIDS prevalence among the workers in the wood and forestry sector