15 Mar 2016

The cycle of death and misery brought about by HIV/AIDS can only be broken by intensifying prevention efforts to protect everyone, Lobatse  Deputy Town Mayor Mr Francis Mokwena said

Mr Mokwena said this at the first Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development (MLGRD) commemoration of Month of Youth Against AIDS (MYAA) event held in Lobatse on Thursday.

He said achievements that are mostly attributed to programs like Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) and the antiretroviral treatment program came at a huge cost to the government with the money that could be used for other developments such as education, backlog eradication and unemployment.

Mr Mokwena further said the increasing HIV/AIDS cases compel everyone to actively promote programmes that are geared towards behaviour change as the corner stone, such as reduction of Multiple Concurrent Partnerships (MCP), correct and consistent condom use, promotion of Safe Male Circumcision, Abstinence and reduction of Alcohol and Drug Abuse.

He said the youth deserve special attention as the future of the communities as such the month of March has been set aside every year as a step towards acknowledging and addressing their needs in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Mr Mokwena said youth issues are cross cutting and require a multi-sectoral approach adding that it was due to this reason that the MLGRD decided to participate in the MYAA commemoration.

He urged the youth to reflect on the role they are playing in commitment to collective zero new HIV infections and also dictate themselves to not only staying negative but helping others to do the same.

He said it was time that every stakeholder regard themselves as the agents of change especially community leaders whom he said should fully dedicate to leading by those values that are enshrined in our culture.

For his part, District AIDS Coordinator Mr Boago Lebang said the youth are the most affected by HIV/AIDS with age group 30 to 34 carrying the highest numbers of HIV/AIDS cases.

He said the recent Botswana Impact AIDS Survey conducted by Statistics Botswana in collaboration with National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) and Ministry of Health showed that the National HIV Prevalence was 17.1 , 17.6  and 18.5 per cent for 2004, 2008 and 2013 respectively, adding that this shows an increase in the prevalence.

He said youth prevalence showed an increase by age, adding that age group 30-34 was the most affected with 33.9 compared to 4.8, 10.3 and 21.2 per cent for age groups 15-19, 20-24 and 25-29 respectively. 

Mr Lebang further said working together as societies was the only way the nation could get to zero infections as the theme suggests; ‘Getting to Zero; Zero new HIV infections, Zero discrimination and Zero AIDS related deaths.’ Ends