10 Dec 2017

Member of Parliament for Tlokweng, Mr Masego Segokgo says government efforts in the fight against HIV/AIDS scourge have been commendable.

Mr Segokgo said this at the Tlokweng Sub-district Council HIV/AIDS day commemoration in Tlokweng recently.

He said government launched a battle against HIV/AIDS to save its affected people, which resulted in the introduction of ARVs and Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programmes among others.

Mr Segokgo however said for a long time, the fight centred on abstinence, being faithful and condomising while leaving others behind.

Groups such as prostitutes and homosexuals, he said were left behind adding that the situation led to the spread of high prevalence rate.

Thus, Mr Segokgo said there was still room for more to be done to include such groups, which had not been specifically targeted.

Also, Mr Segokgo said there was need for the parents to start talking about issues of sex and relationships with their children.

More often, he said children learn about sexual matters from the media such as television and internet.

The MP also encouraged community members to be responsible and play their role in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Tlokweng Sub-district AIDS coordinator, Mr Wililani Goitsemang said the community was still in denial of the existence of sex work.

That, he said would not help the fight against the disease and added that often times when issues of sex workers were discussed, only women were singled out and men left behind.

He said Tlokweng faced problems of high unemployment rate and criminal activities, which also influenced the trend of the disease.

A representative from Batlokwa royal, Kgosi Steven Korwe regretted that most students engage in sexual relationships at a young age due to the influence of drugs and alcohol.

He said there were many cases brought before the tribal authorities from schools in Gaborone and Tlokweng and all cases were influenced by drugs and substance abuse by students.

Kgosi Korwe said parents, teachers and government should work together to address challenges faced by youth. ENDS