13 Jul 2014

The Minister of Health, Dr John Seakgosing says government has shown strong commitment to meeting the sexual and reproductive health needs of its population by integrating Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) and HIV prevention services.

Speaking at the commemoration of world population day on Friday, July 11, Dr Seakgosing said the services were not always readily accessible and utilised by all the youth as reflected by the growing number of adolescent pregnancies in the country. 

He therefore called on existing programme managers and service providers within and outside government to ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health information and services for all adolescents and youth through youth-friendly approaches.

He further said despite the heavy investment that government continues to make into the education sector, Botswana continues to record high levels of youth unemployment.

He said this has to be stemmed out with reforms that saw the establishment of the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) that will reverse the mismatch between skills production and the labour requirements of national economy.

He said Ministry of Education and Skills Development has committed resources in the development of education and training sector strategic plan that will not only address the quality of curricula and its delivery but also its relevance to the country’s economic development outlook

.Dr Seakgosing said youths’ rights, health and education must be guaranteed and their potential unleashed.“The social and economic benefits that can be derived from early investment in youth development cannot be over emphasised,” he said.

This year’s commemoration was in a form of a cyber-dialogue in which live discussions by young people both in school and out of school discussed the issues that affect them and advocated for high impact programmes to significantly improve their lives.The dialogue brought together about 150 young people through cyber connectivity. ENDS