President John Agyekum Kufuor on Wednesday painted another gloomy picture of the havoc being wrecked by HIV/AIDS and said the dialogue for a lasting solution must be unrelenting.

"We should consolidate existing partnership within our various businesses and among all stakeholders," he said.

"We must also build new partnerships with potential stakeholders who can be allies in the fight," he added.

President Kufuor said this in a speech read on his behalf by Ms Gladys Asmah, Minister of Women's Affairs at the opening of the second annual lecture of the Ghana Medical Association in Accra.

The two-day event is on the theme "HIV/AIDS: A national disaster."

In Ghana, the cumulative total as at last year was 43,587 and an estimated 600,000 adults are living with HIV/AIDS.

President Kufuor noted that priority interventions in Ghana have focused on the promotion of safe sex, condom promotion, improved management of Sexually-Transmitted Diseases and safe blood.

Other measures are infection control, prevention of mother to child transmission, voluntary counselling and testing, nursing/clinical care and counselling and home-based care.

The President noted that despite these strategies, the average adult prevalence rose from 2.4 per cent in 1994 to 4.6 per cent in 1999, necessitating a review of approaches.

President Kufuor said the context of response since 1998 has been multisectoral, multidisciplinary and expanded.

Stakeholders have included government and private sectors, NGOs, traditional healers, persons living with aids and civil society.

"This approach we have found to be very effective as it expands the base of stakeholders who use their respective comparative advantages towards the

response."

President Kufuor said the current emphasis of the education has focussed on personalising risks in order to adopt positive behavioural change.

He said private sector involvement continues to preoccupy the national

programme but noted that the levels at which they are operating at individual

levels are not enough to make a dent in the epidemic.

"We should, therefore, resolve to scale up all initiatives that have been shown to work, such as behavioural change and communication.

"We must also support policies that reduce infringement on the rights of persons living with HIV/AIDS."

President Kufuor repeated the chilling statistics of HIV/AIDS in Africa and warned that the destruction forebodes serious dangers for the continent.

Although Africa is only 10 per cent of the global population, it has 80 per cent of all AIDS deaths, about 2.4 million of three million.

Africa is home to 70 per cent of all adults living with the virus, 80 per cent of all infected children and 95 per cent of all AIDS orphans. At least 25.3 million Africans live with the virus.

The President said HIV/AIDS has an important impact on economic development and is a major obstacle and challenge to economic growth and stability of a workforce.

The disease, President Kufuor said, threatens profits, productivity and human welfare advances and there are impacts on households, health, education, agriculture and business.

Dr Richard Anane, Minister of Health, noted that nearly 90 per cent of Ghana's HIV/AIDS cases are aged between 15 and 49 years and estimates say AIDS

related health care costs would rise by about 40 per cent of the current estimated expenditure of nine billion cedis.

"There is, therefore, the need for a concerted effort and multi-sectoral approach to control its further spread."

The Minister said it is necessary to take cognisance of the major role of the health sector in combating the epidemic.

He added that it is important that government interventions include the important role of functioning health systems in scaling up efforts to better confront the disease and the resources needed to do so.