22 Jun 2014

People continue to indulge in lifestyle behaviours that predispose them to HIV/AIDS infections, says deputy national coordinator of National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA), Mr Fraser Tlhoiwe.

Speaking at the National Dissemination Workshop for Combination Prevention Implementation Model recently, Mr Tlhoiwe said other appalling behaviours were multiple concurrent partnerships, unprotected sex, gender based violence as well as lack of safe male circumcision.

He said HIV and AIDS remain one of the greatest public health and socio-economic development challenge in Botswana and that despite high levels of prevalence and a relatively declining incidence rate, Botswana had made tremendous achievements in delivering HIV and AIDS programmes to the people.

Mr Tlhoiwe mentioned some notable achievements such as the number of people that know their status which has increased to 70.2 per cent from 56.4 per cent and a steady decline in AIDS related deaths attributed to the introduction of anti–retroviral drugs (ARVS).

He however said Botswana still faced one of the formidable challenges, changing people’s behaviour.

The 2013 Botswana AIDS Impact Survey (BAIS III) estimated an 18.5 per cent national HIV prevalence with an estimated incidence rate of 1.35 per cent which translates into 10 000 new infections per year a significant decrease from 15 000 new infections per year.

Mr Tlhoiwe also said the government had implemented various HIV prevention programmes, with little impact on the prevention of new infections hence the development of a community-led combination prevention implementation model.

“It is our wish that this plan tries to addresses the inherent paradox of a bottom-up community-led initiative being implemented by a mandate coming from the top down. The government in collaboration with stakeholders is developing a comprehensive delivery model that will stimulate communities to become agents of change in their own locations, using participatory approaches and methods and empower them to achieve that target of zero new HIV infections by 2016, ‘’he said.  ENDS