A renowned Human Rights Lawyer and global Human Rights Ambassador Francis-Xavier Sosu has called for support for children living with HIV/AIDS in Ghana.

Lawyer Sosu made the call when he delivered a keynote address during a Special Christmas Outreach by the Treasure of Life Foundation and Echoing Hills Village Ghana at Madina in the La-Nkwantang municipality on 22nd December 2018.

The outreach which hosted over 1000 very vulnerable children drown from Madina, Agbogloshie  and other deprived communities including street children, children living with various physical, speech and mental disabilities and some children living with HIV/AIDS.

The children were entertained through music and dancing and various kinds of games. Through the support of Decent Foods all the children were fed and by the proud sponsorship of Voltic Ghana Limited all the children were refreshed. The Treasure of Life Foundation gave special Christmas packages to 44 children living with HIV/AIDS and Echoing Hills Village also gave special awards to deserving kids.

Speaking on the them: Promoting Zero Hunger, Good Health and well-being of children as our commitment to the Sustainable development goals- a Collective responsibility, Lawyer called on all Ghanaians to renew their commitment to the care of Vulnerable in the Society especially children.

He said "Whilst we call on government to improve budgetary allocation to these projects and programs to protect our children and also to achieve the millennium development goals, we want to remind ourselves that the care and protection of children is a collective responsibility. Every Ghanaian must renew our minds towards social projects and commit to becoming a volunteer in our communities to reach out to the most vulnerable."

Lawyer Sosu also asserted that Government should consider established one fully funded shelter per district.

He said "there is no doubt that Government bears the ultimate responsibility to care for our children. Government needs to put in place appropriate policies and infrastructure to protect the most vulnerable children in Ghana. It should be possible for Ghana to have one district, one fully funded and well-resourced shelter and rehabilitation center for the most vulnerable especially children"

Mr. Sosu said  according to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals particularly goals 1, 2, and 3 requires that all States must take steps to: End poverty in all its forms everywhere. End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture and Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing of all ages. Mr. Sosu said the state can only do this when all persons commit to supporting the most vulnerable in our society.

Lawyer Sosu officially launched and inaugurated the SAVE OUR VULNERABLE CHILDREN (SOVC) project which is a special outreach by the Treasure of Life Foundation to aid vulnerable children living with HIV/AIDS.

Doing the Launching of the SOVC-PROJECT, Lawyer Sosu explained how he got involved in the SOVC PROJECT.

He said that "about two months ago, my office registered 44 very feeble and vulnerable children living with HIV AIDS. Most of them are orphans and a few living with one parent. Apart from providing them with anti-retroviral drugs, the basic needs of these kids such as food, clothing and shelter are non-existent. Some kids were taking anti-retroviral drugs on empty stomach. The worst story, was a blind woman who was raped and now having a 6-weeks old baby who is HIV positive at the time. It broke my heart and I wanted to seriously do something about it"

Lawyer Sosu said the Treasure of Life Foundation decided to establish the  SAVE OUR VULNERABLE CHILDREN-SOVC PROJECT with psychologists, nurses, models of hope who carefully reach out to the first 44 children registered on the project.

The vision of the SOVC - TLF, is to "join in the global effort to achieve the 90-90-90 vision by 2020 while supporting and advocating for orphans and vulnerable HIV children" and the mission is to "empower and build the capacity of orphans and vulnerable HIV children by supporting their educational and health needs."

Lawyer Sosu also revealed that "according to the World Health Organization an estimated 3.2 million children were living with HIV in the world at the end of 2013.
In Africa, AIDS remains the leading cause of death among adolescents. These children are mostly in sub Saharan Africa and majority of them acquired the Disease from their HIV infected mothers during pregnancy, birth or breastfeeding."

In Ghana, whilst the HIV seems to be generally declining at the national level, the prevalence rate of HIV among the youth aged 15 – 24 years is rising (from 1.1% - 1.5%) with the Greater Accra and Ashanti regions having the highest rate s of HIV.  Currently, there are almost 40, 000 children living with HIV in Ghana, most of whom are living with their grandmothers, care givers, orphanages or in the streets, Mr Sosu added.

Lawyer called on all Ghanaians to the TLF reach out to these most vulnerable children. He said "join us give hope, food, Medicare, and education to at least the 44 children who currently are under our care."

On his part the Director of Echoing Hills Village, Rev. Lawrence Lamina in his welcome address welcomed all the kids and reminded them that the reason for Christmas was the love of God.

Tabitha Ghana supported the event by conducting medical screening for 500 of the children. The Director of Tabitha Ghana, Mr. Amos Asuma-Karikari expressed his joy. "I was happy to join this team to serve the most vulnerable children.

Source: myjoyonline.com