Accra, Dec. 1, GNA - Former President Jerry Rawlings on Monday called for leadership by example, as the country celebrates World AIDS Day, saying the theme for this year's celebration - leadership, was appropriate.

"At this crucial point in our country's history, when we are about to choose new leaders for our country for the next four years, it is important that we attach the same importance to AIDS as we choose our leaders," he said in a statement to mark World Aids Day, which falls on Monday.

"The leadership theme is not necessarily about what our governments and opinion leaders are doing to curb the scourge of AIDS, but what leadership role each member of society is playing to stem the expanding trend of this incurable disease," he added. Former President Rawlings said the campaign slogan "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise" was succinct and best outlined the lapses inherent in the campaign against AIDS.

He noted that the world had lived with this deadly disease for well over two decades and seen millions of our loved ones depart this world unceremoniously, sometimes without knowing they carried the disease or more frequently without us knowing they suffered from the disease. Former President Rawlings said there had been varied educational campaigns from abstinence to the use of condoms during sexual intercourse.

He said national institutions such as the National AIDS Commission and several non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had also spread the message as far as the scourge of the disease was concerned but statistics showed that a lot still needed to be done to stem the tide of the disease.

"The stark reality, however, is though majority of Ghanaians are aware of the deadly nature of the disease and how one can contract it, many simply believe their lifestyles insulate them from the disease. "Sadly the bizarre conception that AIDS may be a poor man's disease has greatly contributed to its spread. That many carriers of the disease do not even show any signs of illnesses is something many of us seem to be ignorant of or simply refuse to acknowledge." Former President Rawlings said the moral fibre of our society had deteriorated with indiscriminate sex now not only the preserve of "the ladies of the night".

"We have the men of the night as well but are saddled with a more serious canker, sex addicts who jump from one partner to the other without any care to protect themselves from themselves." Former President Rawlings expressed his concern about stigmatisation, saying it was important "to embrace our brothers and sisters who carry the disease and not regard them as pariah in society".