27 Nov 2017

Assistant District commissioner, Mr Charles Modise has called on yoing people who got financial assistance Youth Development Fund to repay the money.

Addressing the Sub-District Development Committee at the Serowe Administrative Authority Sub-Council recently, Mr Modise said the many beneficiaries were were not servicing their loans, noting that during the quarter under review no funds were collected, with an outstanding balance of over P7 million.

Mr Modise noted that 459 projects were funded in the Serowe Administrative Authority since inception of the project, adding that 434 were operational, 25 had collapsed, while 46 were still at procurement stage.

He said 38 projects were still being monitored at Serowe West, adding that employment figures stood at 868 with the turnover at over P1 million.

With regard to Women Economic Empowerment, 46 projects were funded of which 22 were operational, 17 were not operational while seven had failed and 63 people were employed in this endeavour.

Mr Modise said some projects had failed  because of lack of commitment, mismanagement of funds, group dynamics, high rentals and high production costs.

When presenting on the feeding programme for primary schools, he said beans were not supplied due to infestation of weevils, adding that Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board had since stepped in to assist.

Mr Modise also commended the sub district, as he said, it continued to do well in the Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission of HIV (PMTCT).

“There were no infants who tested HIV positive for those born to HIV positive mothers. A total of 669 women registered for antenatal care during the quarter under review as compared to 544 in the previous quarter. A total of 158 women registered with known positive status as compared to 115 in the previous quarter, while 144 women registered already on Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART) compared to 107 of the previous quarter,” he said.

He said currently the sub district had a total of 15 739 people currently registered under the anti-retroviral therapy, adding that, 13 283 were on HAART with 199 initiated on the HAART during this quarter.

“Two infants are currently on HAART. There are 13 beneficiaries who died during the quarter under review compared to 22 in the previous quarter,” he said.

HAART is a customised combination of different classes of medications that a physician prescribes based on such factors as the patients viral load, the particular strain of the virus, the CD4+ cell count and other considerations.

On the aspect of adolescent sexual and reproductive health, he noted that there was a slight decline in the number of teenage pregnancies in the sub district for the quarter at 79 compared to 83 the previous quarter, with six of the cases being teenage of the age 10 to 16.

“District Health Management Team in an effort to address this issue has conducted teenage prevention fair at Mannathoko CJSS in collaboration with the Ministry of Basic Education, with 166 students taking part in the initiative,” he said.

Mr Modise also noted that there were no multi drug resistant cases reported during the quarter.

He however noted that the sub-district faces a challenge of low contact tracing for sexual transmitted infections.

Commenting on the presentation, nominated Councillor, Mr Gaotilwe Omphile said he was impressed by the presentation and commended government departments for showing dedication towards their work, adding that it proved that indeed they took their job seriously.

“It is evident that the public officers in Serowe are actually on their toes and performing their duties diligently,” he said. ENDS