Report calls for empowerment of women

Violence against women in Ghana has been linked to HIV infections in the African country.

A report commissioned by ActionAid Ghana found few women were decision-makers in family settings with little or no control over contraception.

The uptake of female condoms had been poor because women had not been able to make decisions about their use, according to news portal Public Agenda.

Women's rights were further eroded by a culture of forced marriages and arbitrary annulments, which left them with little financial or legal support.

Study author Yaa Prepah Agyemang Amekudzi said poverty and lack of education perpetuated violence against women.

"Sometimes they feel they have to keep quiet to receive such abuses," she said.

The report called on the government to set up refuge centres for victims of violence and HIV/Aids, more education about domestic violence and HIV/Aids and increased support from religious bodies.

Discrimination against women with HIV had been so great, many women who tested positive had been forced into prostitution in order to get jobs, the report added.

An estimated 33 million people were living with HIV/Aids in 2007 with the majority of them women, the World Health Organization reported.

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