OneWorld.net (U.S.)

The Ghana AIDS Commission, in cooperation with UNAIDS, the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP) and the Republic of Ghana’s Ministry of Health, sponsored a campaign to raise public awareness about AIDS through bicycle rides.

Two rides, one through all of Ghana’s 11 regions and one through Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Ghana, culminated in a December 1 ceremony publicizing this year’s World AIDS Day theme, “Live and Let Live: Reducing Stigmatization & Discrimination against People Living with HIV/AIDS.”

All of the riders are traveling on bicycles donated by ITDP, an international NGO, based in New York and dedicated to sustainable and equitable transportation. ITDP is working in Ghana, Senegal and South Africa to provide health care workers with bicycles. The pilot project is part of a five-year program funded by the United States Agency for International Development and several private foundations.

“Transportation is one of the biggest barriers to adequately caring for AIDS patients in Africa,” said Paul Steely White, ITDP Africa Regional Director. “With a bicycle, health care workers are reaching double or even triple the number of patients they did while walking. For the cost of one motorcycle or truck, outreach organizations can invest in bicycles and serve many more patients.”

At an event in early November Ghana's Vice President, Alhaji Aliu Mahama, lit a torch that was carried by bicycle on a relay ride across each of Ghana’s 11 regions throughout the month. From the capitol, Accra, in the south, cyclists carried the torch as well as this year’s message of tolerance through the country, arriving in the port city of Takoradi for World AIDS Day.

Meeting the Ghana AIDS Commission rider will be Shisu Yakubu, an AIDS advocate who biked from Nigeria to Ghana on the ECOWAS AIDS Ride, sponsored by ITDP, USAID, “Shopafrik.biz” and the Red Cross, Ghana. His month-long journey, begun on November 1 in Lagos, brought him through Benin and Togo.

“I am embarking on this tour to create awareness and enable humanity to know and appreciate the nature and devastating effects of HIV/AIDS,” said Mr. Yakubu. "'In unity lies strength,’ so the old adage goes. I would therefore earnestly appeal to our leaders and people living in West Africa to unite to fight against the stigma attached to the disease.”

Ghana President H.E. John A. Kufour greeted both riders during Ghana’s World AIDS Day event on December 1 and received 10 new bicycles from ITDP, to be donated to AIDS outreach workers chosen by the Ghana AIDS Commission.

Interested individuals can help provide bicycles to HIV/AIDS outreach workers by logging onto ITDP’s website: www.itdp.org/gift. All donors receive a thank-you card and T-shirt. If donations are given on behalf of a friend, the gift card and T-shirt can be sent as a holiday gift.