02 Oct 2014

Stakeholders have been urged to come up with strategies that will work to improve the health delivery services in the district.

The Maun assistant district commissioner, Mr Mogomotsi Madome said Ngamiland District was faced with a lot of social ills which hindered government efforts in addressing issues related to HIV/AIDS.

Speaking during Ngami HIV/AIDS Pitso recently, Mr Madome expressed concern about the number of teenage pregnancy cases in the district and other social ills such as patients who default on ARV.

He said what the nation was facing today was not just a government problem but it also called for stakeholders and the community at large to act to join hands and come up with best solutions to address the situation.

He said stakeholders should strengthen their initiatives and respond positively to government plea in addressing social ills, HIV/AIDS and promoting behavior change amongst the youth.

Mr Madome said teenage pregnancy continued to be a problem in the district as some children opted to be mothers at an early age noting the tendency showed that they were engaging in unprotected sex.

He also pointed out that ARV defaulters were also a serious concern citing aworkers at Safari camps in the delta saying most were failing to adhere to the treatment instructions because of the nature of their jobs.

He said they cannot re-fill as stipulated by the health practitioners due to many reasons. “I urge you to come up with best solutions to overcome such social ills,” he added.

He also noted that there was a need to strengthen parent to child communication in the area of sexual reproduction to create awareness about teenage pregnancy.

Meanwhile, Kgosi Oateng Setlhodi of Chanoga informed the gathering that their Village Multi-Sectoral AIDS Committee was in the right direction as they had developed a comprehensive HIV/AIDS activity plan focusing on problems and the needs of the community.

He said since the committee covered six catchment areas, they were area specific noting that they had taken on board different groups such as traditional healers, pastors, youth, women and men to come up with their own strategies to take HIV/AIDS scourge head on.

Kgsoi Setlhodi said the groups were advised to come up with strategies which were aligned to the existing policies to ensure they addressed burning issues effectively.

“Currently the committee is doing well in the reporting system as there is a lot of progress,” he said. He said they had appointed focal persons from the catchment areas to assist in distributions of condoms.

He mentioned that the programme of Safe Male Circumcision was also progressing well as men and parents were coming forth to participate in the exercise.

He said currently 23 men had undergone the operation of which 13 were sexually active. Ends