The Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) has announced its decision to sponsor a prize award for well researched articles on HIV/AIDS as part of this year's Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) awards package.
The winner would receive a plaque, a laptop computer and set of books.
Dr. Angela El-Adas, acting Director General of the Commission, said this underlined GAC's commitment to work closely with journalists to ensure continuous public education on the deadly disease through the dissemination of accurate and factual information.
She was opening of a two-day "writing clinic on HIV/AIDS" for 40 media practitioners in the northern sector of the country at the Anita Hotel at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu-Juaben municipality.
Organized jointly by the GAC and the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA), the two-day workshop was on the theme: "Using the media to create greater awareness on HIV/AIDS."
She described the media as a strategic vehicle to help inform and educate the people on the need to lead healthy lifestyles to prevent HIV infection.
Dr. El-Adas said stigmatization and discrimination particularly against persons living with the disease remained the major challenge in the battle to bring down its spread and urged the participants help develop innovative ways and strategies to fight the pandemic.
The Commission has developed an elaborate plan to engage all segments of the media landscape to create the needed awareness to check the disease.
Mr. Affail Monney, Vice President of the GJA, said the objective of the project was to help media practitioners to identify and determine responses to challenges of effective coverage of the disease.
He said: "the clinic should provide us with a forum to compare and contrast our methods and coverage to motivate us to improve on our
performances."
Mr. Monney said journalists who excel in writing stories on HIV/ AIDS would be presented with cash prizes.