Journalsits urged to focus on behavioural change

THE Managing Director of the Graphic Communications Group Limited (GCGL), Mr Ibrahim Awal, has urged journalists to write persuasive articles that will change people’s attitudes and behaviour towards HIV/AIDS and the people affected by the pandemic.
He observed that journalists seldom wrote on HIV/AIDS, adding that “the more journalists write on HIV/AIDS, the more they create the much-needed awareness of it in the minds of the general public”.
Mr Awal made the appeal when a two-member delegation from the Ghana Business Coalition Against HIV/AIDS (GBCA) called on him in Accra yesterday. They were Dr Derek Nii Armah Aryee, the Programme Director, and Dr Adriana Ignea, the Programme Officer.
He noted that the GCGL being a corporate entity, staff development was a major priority area, for which reason it continued to provide free health care for its staff, their spouses and a maximum of six children.
That, he said, was aimed at ensuring that the health status of its staff was improved tremendously, pointing out that the company did not discriminate against members of staff who suffered from any kind of disease.
“It is in pursuance of this objective that the company had been collaborating with the GBCA in its activities, to the extent of granting the coalition gratis in the form of adverts, together with the Ghana AIDS Commission, in view of the seriousness the company attaches to the disease,” he said.
He advised other organisations to give support to both the GBCA and the commission in the execution of their respective mandates, adding, “We should not underrate the effect of the disease on the workforce of any organisation, as well as the country’s human resource development.”
Mr Awal expressed the company’s appreciation towards the GBCA’s support to the GCGL’s annual health walk against HIV/AIDS.
Mr Aryee also expressed his appreciation to the company for supporting the GBCA in its campaign against HIV/AIDS since its formation two years ago.
Briefing Mr Awal on the achievements of the coalition so far, the programme director said membership had increased from the initial 500 and was still on the increase.
He said aside from media publicity, the coalition published an annual newsletter to promote its campaign.