Dr Kwame Addo-Kufuor, Minister of Defence on Thursday said if intense health education and moral teaching are given to children between five and 14 years, society could protect them from the ravages of the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

This is because children in that age group with the least sexual activity have low prevalence of the disease, he said at the inauguration of the 12-member Ghana Armed Forces HIV/AIDS Control Committee in Accra.

The Minster said the pandemic with a worldwide figure of 36.1 million victims undermines the very basis of socio-economic development and poses a serious threat to humanity.

He therefore urged society to use all available means including condoms, the only current means of protection for persons who cannot avoid casual sex with multiple partners.

"In an imperfect world the use of condom has a major role to play in our fight against HIV/AIDS."

Dr Addo-Kufuor reminded the officers and men of the Armed Forces that abstinence is still the best way of avoiding the disease.

He expressed regret that though there seems to be much awareness creation of the disease, the change in sexual behaviour is often not

forthcoming, thus the need to intensify the health educational campaign and other preventive measures.

He also called for intensified attempt to introduce the use of antiretroviral drugs into the country to enable people to undergo voluntary testing, improve the general well being and prolong the lives of infected people.

Lieutenant-General Seth Obeng, Chief of the Defence Staff said the GAF intends to expand activities of the AIDS prevention programme, including the dissemination of information on the disease to the grassroots of the military units.

Dr Frank Young, Director of the United States Agency for Iternational Development (USAID), sponsors of the programme, said: "No matter what statistics tell us, the Armed Forces and Police Services suffer the disease in greater concentrations than society as a whole".

This, he said, if left un-addressed, would impoverish and hollow out Ghana's security Forces and shred the fabric of society.

He said the military was an effective weapon against the spread of the disease because it represented a combination of individual discipline and unit teamwork.

He expressed the hope that the knowledge and skills that the military would gain from the expanded programme would be used to influence behaviour change among the ranks.

He praised Ghana for having one of the strongest HIV/AIDS prevention programmes in Africa.

"Ghana's prevalence rate is relatively low, but we cannot take much comfort in this, knowing that there are other West-African countries whose infection rates are double and triple that of Ghana."

Ghana's prevalence rate is put at 4.6 per cent.