01 Dec 2016

 President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama has called upon Batswana to unite in fighting HIV/AIDS.

Speaking during the AIDS day commemoration in Gaborone yesterday, President Khama said Botswana had invested heavily in various treatment and prevention strategies as well as programmes in the quest to combat the scourge challenge.

He said optimising the combination prevention approach through anti-retroviral therapy, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, appropriate condom use and voluntary medical male circumcision was key in minimising impact of the epidemic.

President Khama said if Batswana could do the necessary, they would be in a good position to attain the 90-90-90 global targets by 2020 set to fast track the ending of AIDS by 2030.

He therefore encouraged Batswana to take personal responsibility adding that the innovations came at a cost.

President Khama said in the past three decades, Botswana accelerated its efforts by introducing a strategic multi-sectoral response to HIV/AIDS that yielded positive results.

He pointed out that Batswana together with friends from different nations across the globe worked tirelessly to fight the HIV/AIDS pandemic through different fora and partnerships.

Therefore, the President said various interventions were introduced to respond to the emergency situation that the country found itself in.

“While Batswana endured pain and suffering, we steadfastly refused to falter and pulled together to conquer the virus” stated President Khama.

He said Botswana pioneered the best nation-wide treatment programme in the world and triumphed in the quest to save babies from transmission of HIV, adding that currently the mother to child transmission rate is at 1.6 percent having dropped from a high of 40 per cent in 2001.

President Khama said there was so much to be grateful for, especially that new infections were estimated to have dropped.

He said, as a result of the AIDS epidemic, demographic estimates by the World Health Organisation (WHO) recorded life expectancy in Botswana to have fallen to 46 years in 2001, noting that rose to 69 years in 2011.

The President further said the remarkable improvement in life expectancy was attributable to the robust interventions and programmes that had been put in place to curb HIV/AIDS situation.

Meanwhile, President Khama said he was encouraged by the support that Botswana continued to receive from development partners, civil society and private sector in the AIDS response.

“We cannot afford to underestimate the importance of such partnerships, which laid a firm foundation for what we have achieved so far in the fight against the pandemic,” he said.

He said the effort and commitment would forever be appreciated by the government and Batswana in general, adding that Botswana still looked to them for continued support and urged them not to desert the country especially that the battle was yet to be won.
Regarding non-communicable diseases, President Khama stated that they remained another serious challenge.

The President said the country was afflicted by conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, and many others because of lifestyle and behaviour.

He insisted that a healthy diet and physical exercise must be part of life, to avoid many such ailments, adding that it took personal responsibility more than anything else to prevent most of these conditions.

President Khama pointed out that for that reason, government ministries were restructured and consciously added a ‘wellness’ function to the Ministry of Health.

He said it was done so that apart from treating diseases, the ministry should promote wellness through prevention by healthy living which entails nutrition, physical fitness, mental health and self-care by citizens. ENDS