09 Sep 2019

The First Lady, Ms Neo Masisi, has urged young girls to abstain from sex to avoid falling victims to pregnancy and HIV infection.

Ms Masisi, who was addressing pupils on September 7 before the Ms Abstinence Kanye beauty contest, said statistics showed that more than 100 teenagers fell pregnant in the village last year.

She added that HIV prevalence statistics indicated that youth aged between 15-24 years accounted for around 50 per cent of new HIV infections in Botswana.

“This is worrying because most of our population is young people. Therefore it is a big concern that these young people are getting infected with HIV,” she said.

She advised girls to delay engaging in sex until they became adults and capable of making informed decisions about sexual matters.

Ms Masisi said past researches had indicated that some girls as young as 13 years of age were already engaged in sexual activities.

“Thirteen is very very young. The body and the mind are not yet mature at that time,” stated the First Lady.

Ms Masisi also cautioned young girls against being attracted into sex by material gifts from older men.

She asked the society to condemn the ‘blesser’ culture where older men were using money and expensive gifts to lure young girls into sexual relations.

She raised a concern that the second Botswana Youth Risk Behavioural and Biological Surveillance Survey Report showed that young girls did not have enough knowledge on safe sex and HIV and were therefore engaged in risky sexual behaviour. She said teenage pregnancy must be avoided because it damaged the future of young girls.

The Botswana Christian AIDS Intervention Programme (BOCAIP) chief executive officer, Ms Lorato Mphusu, said their organisation was promoting abstinence from sex by young people to fight the spread of HIV in Botswana.

“We follow the Christian values of abstinence and faithfulness. When it comes to pupils our value is abstinence from sexual practices,” she said.

She also advised pupils to abstain from drug and alcohol.

Bangwaketse paramount chief, Kgosi Malope II thanked the First Lady for her effort to shape the behaviour of youth in Botswana.

Kgosi Malope II said it was a good thing to teach good values to young people so that they could grow into responsible citizens. ENDS