The vulnerable in the District may be seen as people who just manage to organise and sustain their lives within the protection of the existing social system and safety nets offered but who get destabilized with the slightest disruption or disturbance of the social system.  Such people unfortunately do not have the in-built capacity to re-organise themselves but rather crumble under the slightest pressure.

Groups of the vulnerable that can be identified in the District includes:-

1. Food crops farmers
2. The aged
3. Children
4. People With Disabiliteis (PWDs)

In general, food crops farmers suffer wide fluctuations in their fortunes depending very much on food crop prices on the market.  Food crop prices depend largely on output, which in turn depends on natural rainfall over which the farmer has no control.  Any season of bad weather affects the farmers output and hence his / her income whilst on the other hand good weather conditions result in increased aggregate output which lowers prices and reduces rural farm incomes.  The smallholder subsistence food crop farmer thus faces the dilemma of price and income fluctuations over which he / she exercises no control.

Within this broad category is the rather common female single parent food crop farmer.  The ease with which men abandon their spouses together with their children imposes trying challenges on such single women who have to fend for themselves and their children from such fluctuating and unreliable farm incomes.  The chances are always that in a really bad year she loses everything and the family is exposed to starvation and other sufferings.

The Aged

The safety net provided by the extended family system is getting eroded as society transforms towards emphasis on nuclear families.  Where the nuclear family is incapable of supporting their aged or with the out-migration of the young for jobs, even where money is transferred to the aged, catering for their own needs becomes a problem. There is the need to institute some support systems to provide a safety net for neglected aged persons.

Children

Child vulnerability manifestation in the District could be traced to parental irresponsibility.  Children born outside marriage and children of large families tend to be victims of parental neglect and are called upon to fend for themselves from an early age, opening them up to all manner of dangers and abuse.  The most visible abuse of children manifests in the Dzemeni area where children are engaged as workers in the fishing industry.

The most effective remedy to this situation is to strengthen the Department of Social Welfare in undertaking its family and child welfare programmes. To this end a Child Panel and Probation Committee was formed in the district.

The Disabled

The disabled face both physical and social handicaps.  Little attention is given to their educational needs as children and further skill acquisition and job placement.  Social prejudices remain strong.  Yet the disabled operate in the robust competitive open market.

The Department of Social Welfare’s Community Based Rehabilitation Programme for People with Disabilities reaches an insignificant population of People with Disabilities due to severe resource constraints. As a result, the Department was only able to identify about 100 PWDs but who were not granted soft loans.

Programme on HIV/ AIDS:

The District has a five year HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan (2006-2009) approved by the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC) with which it has been fighting the spread of the pandemic in high risk areas of the District like the market towns of Dzemeni and Kpeve, as well as Peki.

The Assembly with financial support from the GAC and in partnership with NGOs and CBOs organized progammes and activities from its Strategic Plan relating to Prevention and Behavioral Change Communication, Treatment, Care and Support, Co-ordination and Management of Decentralized Response, etc. The Assembly has also developed and put in place a Workplace Policy on HIV/AIDS.
The Peki Government Hospital offers treatment to PLWAs and serves as a sentinel centre.