VULNERABILITY ANALYSIS

Defenselessness is simply exposure to risk. Several factors can expose people to risk.  In the Krachi West District, disabilities such as visual and hearing impairments among others easily expose people to risk. Farming, which is the predominant source of livelihood for the majority of the people very often disappoints the people due to the vagaries of the weather thereby exposing people to livelihood insecurity. To cushion people against the effects of vulnerability, the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) is currently being implemented in the District. It is a social intervention programme whereby the extremely poor are given cash grants in order to meet their basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter.

The 2010 Population and Housing census revealed that the Krachi West District Assemble has a population of 49,417. However, The District is bedeviled with numerous disability problems. The   common disability issues in the district are visually impairment, hearing problems, physical disability, and intellectual disability among others. Sight problem continues to be the commonest. It accounted for 51.8%and 49.6% for male and female respectively. (Source: 2010, Population and Hosing Census).

The District Assembly pays high premium to semi-subsistence food farming in order to obviate a situation whereby peasant farmers fall below the poverty line. There is no early warning system to alert people of an impending imminent occurrence of disaster in the district. Incidences of children in conflict with the law, child trafficking, child labour, orphans and vulnerable children are quite low in the district.

HIV/AIDS

The District has not been insulated from the corollary of the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The prevalence rate in the

District increased from 0.07% to 0.13%. It is reported that female are more affected by the disease than their male counterpart in the district.

The Krachi West District Government Hospital has established an Anti-Retroviral Drug Centre where anti-retroviral drugs are administered to HIV positive patients. There is also a Voluntary Testing and Counseling Centre (VTCC) at the Krachi West District Government Hospital where voluntary testing for HIV and counseling are carried out.