Ghanaian actress Beverly Afaglo has expressed deep concern about the increasing rates of smoking, drinking, and casual sex among the youth today.
During an interview with Nana Romeo on Accra 100.FM, she shared her worries about how these behaviours have become all too common among young people. "The smoking and drinking is getting out of hand," Beverly remarked when asked what advice she would give to the younger generation. "For those of us born in the 80s, when you heard someone smoked, they were seen as a bad influence," she explained. "Now, the world is more open, and smoking weed isn't seen as something terribly bad, but young people are getting involved far too early." She lamented how casual smoking and drinking have become part of everyday life for many youths, some even going as far as renting AirBnBs for wild parties, where they engage in reckless behavior, only to wake up the next day with no memory of their actions.
As a mother of two, Beverly is also deeply concerned about how discussions around HIV seem to have faded from public view. "I worry that HIV awareness isn't loud anymore," she shared. "When we were growing up, HIV was in our faces-on TV, we saw people getting sick and losing weight drastically, which made us cautious.
But today's generation seems unbothered, probably because they know HIV can be managed now." However, she warned that even though medical advancements have made HIV more manageable, contracting the virus can still have serious consequences, particularly when it comes to finding a partner for marriage.