08 May 2017

Tebelopele Counselling and Testing Centre has introduced a new initiative of testing sex workers to fight HIV/AIDS new infections.

Palapye Tebelopele Counselling and Testing Centre coordinator, Mr Mosimanegape Thabeng said the organisation was working to prevent new HIV infections.

He said during the last quarter, they tested 74 sex workers out of the 136 met in Palapye and surrounding areas.

He pointed out that out of the 74 tested, 65 tested negative while nine tested HIV positive.

Mr Thabeng said they used the moonlighting strategy where sex workers were approached in order to educate them about the importance of testing and knowing their HIV status.

He explained that the centre identified one sex worker who would link her peers with the centre and co-workers because most of them were working as a network.

Mr Thabeng said it was easy for sex workers to declare their business when they visited the centre as a collective.

The strategy, he said, was introduced by a non-governmental organisation known as Silent Kills from Selebi Phikwe.

“This idea was introduced to reduce government expenses on purchasing of ARVs, and to reduce new infections and HIV related deaths,” Mr Thabeng added.

He said the mandate of Tebelopele was to provide HIV/AIDS counselling and testing services to all.

Mr Thabeng said the government should come up with policies and guidelines for the treatment of all sex workers.

He said although prostitution was illegal, sex workers should be given special treatment at clinics and testing centres. BOPA