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The fight against the spread and control of the HIV and AIDS pandemic should be a shared responsibility and not be left on the shoulders of government alone. Mr. Samuel Atidzah, Executive Director of GOSANET Foundation, a health NGO, said this at a health outreach programme the Foundation organized at Agotime Akwetey in the Agotime-Ziope District on Saturday. �It therefore behooves on all key players including non-governmental organisations (NGO), religious bodies, civil society organisations and opinion leaders to take up arms against this deadly disease.� he said. The programme, which was organized in collaboration with the Ghana HIV/AIDS Network (GHANET) an umbrella group of NGOs in HIV and AIDS, funded by Ghana AIDS Commission was to educate the community especially women on healthy lifestyles and other vulnerable groups to increase the level of their knowledge about HIV transmission. It was also aimed at reducing the stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV and AIDS, prevent mother to child transmission, reemphasize the risk of unprotected sex and promote condom use. Mr. Atidzah appealed to the youth who he described as �the window of hope of the country� to refrain from pre-marital sex. Mr. Atidzah said similar programmes were held in other communities in the district including Atsrulume, Mangotideke, Afegame, Kporta, Segbale, Kortsrala, Shiave, Kpetoe Kpodeke and Akumase Kpetoe. Ms Christina Agboda, HIV and AIDS Counselor at the Kpetoe Health Centre, appealed to health workers and relations of people living with HIV and AIDS to treat them with compassion and support them. Torgbui Adzoda II, the Chief of the town, commended GOSANET Foundation for their efforts to reduce the spread of the deadly disease and appealed to his people to put what they learnt into practice.