01 Nov 2017

A focal person for the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) and HIV testing Services in the Francistown district, Ms Saziso Kamanga has revealed that 7 983 people turned out for the HIV testing and counselling during the July-September period.

Giving a report during the District Multi Sectoral AIDS Committee (DMSAC) meeting on Tuesday, Ms Kamanga said out of the 7 983 a total of 552 tested positive.

She said 316 clients started ARV treatment the second quarter compared to 446 in the last quarter. Ms Kamanga said out of the number 205 were females while 111 were males.

Ms Kamanga said only one client was stopped from taking the treatment due to developing complications and would be monitored and reintroduced to treatment.

She said while 29 clients died to various causes, that included accidents, in the first quarter only 14 died in the second quarter. On the PMTCT programme, Ms Kamanga said 131 born to HIV positive mothers were tested, 59 tested negative, one tested positive and 71 are awaiting results.

She said the uptake of the PMTCT programme in Francistown is 99.2 per cent.

Regarding teenage pregnancy, she said in the first quarter 70 were registered but in the second quarter 62 were registered.

She told the meeting that a total of 3 006 STI cases were registered and only 459 contacts were traced. On the TB programme, Ms Kamanga said ‘while testing is 100 per cent, the treatment uptake is 70.8 per cent and 13 cases of Multi Drug Resistance (MDR) cases were recorded with the highest of five at Tshwaragano Clinic.’

In his presentation, the assistant district AIDS coordinator Mr Obusitswe Pitlagano said 52 female sex workers were tested for HIV in the second quarter and five of them were positive and they were linked with the health care providers.

Giving a report for Humana, Mr Pitlagano said while 7 500 male condoms were distributed only 200 female condoms were collected. Mr Pitlagano said there was need for more campaigns on the female condoms.

On the Botswana Family Welfare Association (BOFWA) report, he said 272 men having sex with men (MSM) were tested for HIV and 22 were positive and enrolled in the treatment.

He said 1 242 female sex workers were tested for HIV and 302 tested positive and were enrolled in the Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART). The district AIDS coordinator Ms Elizabeth Wright announced that Business

Botswana Coalition against HIV/AIDS funded a five day voluntary counselling and testing at different companies in Francistown to kick-off on November 6 targeting 5 120 people.

Earlier, in her welcome remarks, DMSAC chairperson, Ms Tebogo Hlabano raised a concern about government departments failing to attend the DMSAC meetings.

She explained that failure to attend resulted in the committee not giving a true picture of what was happening in the city. Ms Hlabano thanked the NGOs for always attending the meeting and giving reports.

The meeting proposed that the District AIDS day be held on December 8 at Gerald Estate. BOPA