Ghana's president, John Agyekum Kufuor on Saturday urged district assemblies to assist traditional leaders to develop community based initiatives to help curb the spread of the HIV/AIDS that is gradually wiping away the population.

He said in a speech read on his behalf at this year's World AIDS Day in the Eastern Region that traditional leaders had a greater influence on the opinion, habits and culture of their communities and they should not be ignored in the fight against the disease.

"The traditional leaders are also role models in our society and their efforts at highlighting the issues of HIV/AIDS and encouraging sustained behavioural change are significant."

Kufuor said men were at high risk of contracting the disease as women and children because of some socio-cultural practices like polygamy, widow inheritance and job-related migration.

He said that secrecy, shame and stigmatisation surrounding the disease posed extreme hardship on those infected as they lacked social and economic support.

"They, therefore, remain silent with the disease and hide it from relatives and the community with some infecting others knowingly," he added.

He called on men to change their sexual behaviour and adopt a positive one that would not put their partners and families at the risk of contracting the virus.

Kufuor urged all to show love and care for children who had lost both parents to AIDS and accept people living with HIV/AIDS instead of shunning them.

Acting Executive Secretary of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Bridget Katsriku appealed to men in leadership positions to embark on programmes that would change the attitude of their peers to risky sexual behaviours.

The WHO representative in Ghana, Dr Melville George, attended the programme and urged communities to implement effective responses to reverse the spread of the disease by working collectively.