Men's sexual behaviour currently contributes substantially to the spread and impact of AIDS, and this puts them on the frontline of risk, an executive on AIDS in Ghana suggested Tuesday in Accra.

The head of the Ghana National AIDS Control Programme, Dr Kweku Yeboah, however said that such behaviour could be changed.

He told reporters in that "Engaging men as partners in the efforts against AIDS is the surest way to change the course of the epidemic."

Yeboah emphasised that this year's World AIDS Day theme: "AIDS, Men Make a Difference", would focus on the role of men in the epidemic.

The world will use the theme for two years.

The campaign, he said, aims at motivating men and women to openly talk about sex, drug use and HIV/AIDS.

He said it also aims at encouraging men to take care of themselves, partners and families and promote programmes that respond to the need of society.

Yeboah said HIV infections and deaths caused by AIDS among men world-wide, outnumber those of women except in sub-Saharan- Africa.

He said, in 1999, 10 million African men were living with HIV, compared to 7.5 million infected men in the rest of the world.

The doctor said a WHO study covering 18 countries in 1995 showed that men had more sexual partners than women, and that over 70 percent of HIV infections world-wide allegedly occur thorough sexual intercourse.

A further 10 percent, he said, can be traced through homosexuality.

Giving brief on the HIV/AIDS situation in Ghana, Yeboah said a total of 40,029 cases have been reported as at June this year, and nearly 90 percent of the patients are aged between 15 and 49 years.

He said the peak age for males in Ghana is 30-34, while that for women is 25-29 years; but that there is a new phenomenon whereby 60 percent of all the regions are reporting of the peak age among males in the older groups.

"The proportion of males who are reported in the age group beyond 35 years is increasing, indicating that older men are becoming increasingly infected and probably infecting younger females, as described in the 'Sugar Daddy' syndrome," he pointed out.

Yeboah underscored the need to encourage men to take responsibility for their sexual and reproductive health and that of their partners.

Meanwhile, deputy health minister Charles Kpabitey said cases of sexually transmitted diseases, hitherto found among adults were now being reported in children as young as 14 to 16 years.

Kpabitey said most girls become mothers and sexually active before turning 18, and called for a concerted effort in dealing with problems confronting the youth.

He blamed irresponsible parenting, poverty, violence, and negative media reports and screening of pornographic films for the moral decadence among youths.

Promotion of promiscuity on the airwaves and nude pictures in newspapers are also affecting the decent development of children, he said.