02 Jul 2018

Media is said to have been a great tool in promoting awareness with the expectation that the benefit of the Treat All Programme would attract many to test earlier and immediately enrol on treatment if positive.

Speaking at the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR)’s New Directions in Global Health Media Seminar recently, US Ambassador to Botswana, Mr Earl Miller said last year’s seminar yielded dozens of radio and newspaper stories and equipped more than 50 journalists and editors with information and skills needed to spread an international HIV/AIDS response.

He said the seminar, which was held under the theme: From Emergency Plan to Epidemic Control, marked PEPFAR’s 15 years of saving lives through American generosity and partnerships.

Mr Miller said PEPFAR has rapidly accelerated access to lifesaving HIV treatment for more than 14 million people, enabled more than 2.2 million babies born to HIV positive mothers to be born HIV free.

He explained that PEPFAR also assisted more than 6.4 million orphans, vulnerable children, caregivers affected by HIV/AIDS and helped protect more than 15.2 million men and boys from HIV through voluntary medical male circumcision.

The PEPFAR also supported more than 85.5 million people worldwide to know their HIV status, he added.

Mr Miller said there was consistent progress at the regional and national levels, as data shows that certain age groups, including men over 30 years and youth 15-24, are lagging much further behind in accessing HIV testing and treatment.

He said about 38 Batswana become newly infected each day, while gender inequality and gender based violence continue to fuel the epidemic in Southern and East Africa, which is why the highest rate of new infections occur in girls and young women between the ages of 15 and 24.

“We should not hold any illusions about the difficulty of this challenge set before us.

Delivering a final blow to AIDS over the next three years will be harder than anything we have faced thus far, yet if we do not address this problem, we risk losing the gains that we have already made and also losing more loved ones,” he said.

The US envoy also encouraged the media to craft stories that illuminate the human experience of HIV and give the country best recognition, which he added would help them climb to the point where they would confidently claim victory in realising an AIDS free generation. ENDS