15 May 2014

Addressing sexually transmitted diseases is still a priority issue in the Kweneng East district.

This was revealed by district AIDS coordinator of Kweneng east, Ms Theresa Makati at a one day teachers and parents training workshop held in Mogoditshane.

She said the district reported a total of 1326 male and 1539 female registered with Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in the past quarter.  “There is an increase in the number of STIs cases in the district throughout the quarters,” she said.

Ms Makati stated that the estimated HIV prevalence rate for the district is estimated at 19 per cent according to the Botswana AIDS Impact Survey(BAIS IV )as compared to 16.7 per cent of BAIS III and the most affected age group is 25-49 years with a prevalence of 37.3 per cent. The BAIS IV survey estimated a national prevalence of 16.9 per cent and unadjusted incidence rate of 2, 47per cent for population aged 6 weeks and above.

On the other hand, the national prevalence rate of age group of 18 months to 64 years was estimated at 19.03 per cent compared to 17.6 per cent realised in the 2008 BAIS III for the same age group.

She revealed that HIV prevalence and incidence rates are estimated at 2.9 per cent in the 2008 BAIS III which covered age group 18 months to 64 years. “This remains almost unchanged for the same age group in the 2013 survey,” she added.

She further stated that females have a relatively higher prevalence rate of 19.2 per cent compared to 14.1 per cent of males, which she said is a slight decline from the 2008 report where prevalence rate for males was 14.2 per cent and female at 20.4 per cent.

Furthermore, Ms Makati explained that a total of 13457 females and 10342 males are currently on ARV’s cumulative, adding that there are more females accessing the ARV services than males.

She also explained that there are more females than males currently on Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), a programme only accessed by Prevention of Mother to-Child Transmission (PMTCT) mothers.

She indicated that from October to December last year, testing have improved as there was an increased number of people testing since the inception of the Safe Male Circumcision (SMC) programme.

On issues of teenage pregnancy, Ms Makati stated that the district reported 78, 104, 91, 98 cases from quarter 1 to quarter 4 and most of the cases were reported in rural areas. ENDS