03 Nov 2019

Selebi Phikwe District Health Management Team (DHMT) encourages parents to take part in the HIV Baby Testing Campaign which kick started on November 01.

The campaign is expected to run until November 29, with the aim to determine if a child has ever been at risk of being exposed to HIV, even though they were born negative.

Head of Selebi Phikwe DHMT, Dr Joseph Shama informed residents of the town during a kgotla meeting at Ikageleng kgotla that the campaign also followed protocols of treating those found infected.

He said ‘early treatment will ensure we reach our goal of making sure that we have suppressed HIV infection at a targeted rate of 95 per cent’.

Dr Shama assured the residents that guidelines would be followed, including issues of confidentiality, during the exercise that would be conducted in pre-primary schools, day care centres and health facilities.

Furthermore, he informed the residents that the Botswana AIDS Impact Survey of 2013, indicated that HIV/AIDS prevalence in Selebi Phikwe was high, standing at 27.5 per cent, whilst the Botswana Sentinel Surveillance indicated that Selebi Phikwe prevalence rate stood at 41.2 per cent as the second highest in the country.

He said because of the high prevalence in the district it was highly likely that babies were at risk of HIV infection.

The testing campaign is part of the activities that would be held in November, a month termed as Child Health days, by the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

During the period children under the age of five are given Vitamin A and Albendazole for deworming to strengthen their resistance to infection.

Health care days also reduce morbidity and mortality as well as increase immunisation coverage.

For her part, Kgosi Tebogo Stephen of Ikageleng ward urged the community, as stakeholders, to support the exercise by taking their children for HIV testing.

Ms Stephen urged them not to disadvantage their children because of culture or religious beliefs, advising that the community must abide by the law.

Principal Nursing Officer at Selebi Phikwe DHMT, Ms Kgopolo Sekgwama urged parents to cooperate with health workers to make the exercise a success.

She said the exercise was beneficial to both children and parents, adding that a healthy child performed well in school. ENDS