24 Sep 2017

Botswana Christian AIDS Intervention Programme (BOCAIP) chief executive officer, Ms Lorato Mphusu has appealed to individuals, government and private organisations to volunteer their services and financial assistance to the Holy Cross Hospice (HCH) to assist in caring for terminally-ill patients.

Speaking during a donation by BOCAIP on September 22, Ms Mphusu said the civil society had a social responsibility to help better the lives of communities.

Ms Mphusu encouraged all to join the fight against stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV/AIDS as that negatively affected the health of patients living with the disease.

“The nation is faced with a lot of challenges especially since everyone is either infected by the disease of affected by virtue of being related to someone who has HIV/AIDS. No one should be discriminated against because of the disease they have, whether HIV/AIDS or any other disease,” she said.

Ms Mphusu further noted that she was proud of BOCAIP for donating to HCH saying the act was relevant to one of Vision 2036 that the country had set to eliminate HIV/AIDS and zero new infections.

She also encouraged everyone to take responsibility of their health and also to never be busy to help those suffering from any terminal illness.

“I applaud the Holy Cross Hospice for dedicating their time and effort in caring for the patients, such work should be celebrated more to motivate them and also encourage anyone who would like to help out,” she added.

The centre manager, Ms Pearl Ncube expressed gratitude to BOCAIP.

She said being a Non-Governmental Organisation, Holy Cross Hospice relied on volunteers and organisations to help them make a difference in people’s lives.

She said that they required financial and voluntary assistance from anyone interested in helping the community care for its terminally-ill patients.

BOCAIP donated toiletry, shoes and clothes to The Holy Cross Hospice.

Holy Cross Hospice is a registered welfare NGO founded in 1994 to provide support to patients with serious illnesses such as cancer and HIV/AIDS.

The organisation provides Palliative Care Services such as pain management, nursing care, family and individual counseling, meals and nutritional support to patients allowing them to live as fully and actively as possible until their final days. ENDS