17 Jun 2014

It is unfortunate that some people engage in risky behaviour that exposes them to contracting infections, says chairperson of the Boteti Sub-council, Mr Ketshwereng Galeragwe.

Speaking at the ongoing sub-council meeting, Mr Galeragwe said behavioural change remained a challenge that often defied public education campaign. As a result, he said, some people were always in danger of contracting diseases because they did not change their behaviour.

Mr Galeragwe said he wondered when some people would not change their ways to give priority to their health, especially that government was spending large sums of money and other resources on public health education.

He said some people go to the extent of discontinuing their medication. He said some married people abandoned their spouses only to start a life with multiple concurrent partners, the behaviour that makes people contract HIV.

 He added that some people’s attitude to health was disagreeable because they would refuse to stop eating beef, even upon the doctor’s instruction.

Some of HIV-positive women continue to put their lives in danger by getting pregnant but never registering for the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of the virus; and their male partners continue to have sex with other women. He urged councillors to work with community leaders towards behaviour change.

However, the DDC report for the last quarter of the previous financial year says the PMTCT uptake was 95 per cent in Boteti. One-third of women who give birth were HIV positive. About sexually transmitted infections, the report recorded 179 cases of urethral discharge, 195 of vaginal discharge, 112 new AIDS cases and 125 of pelvic inflammatory.

The health facilities also recorded 11 cases of rape while 126 of the recorded clients were HIV positive. The high number of STI cases indicated that most people are still having unprotected sex, which was a risky behaviour. ENDS