10 Dec 2019

Community involvement is crucial in the fight against HIVAIDS, Tutume Sub-district Council AIDS coordinator, Mr Austin Motsamai has asserted.

Speaking on the occasion of district AIDS commemoration day in Marapong recently, Mr Motsamai said HIV/AIDS was a worldwide epidemic, which had affected families and communities across the globe. 

He said the situation, therefore, called for action from not only government but communities at large since they were the ones directly feeling the pinch.

This year’s theme: Communities Can Make a Difference, he said, appealed to communities not to be distant but to be fully involved in the fight against the disease.

Mr Motsamai said even though government continued to make intensive efforts in the battle against the epidemic, it was regrettable that  some people still defaulted on their treatment.

As a result, some patients ended up being drug resistant which led leading to preventable deaths.

He noted that many who followed doctors’ orders lived long normal lives unlike those who defaulted.

Mr Motsamai said there were many people living with HIV, willing to sensitise others. 

He appealed to family members to help their loved ones affected by HIV/AIDS to understand they could still live their lives to the fullest as long as they took their medication properly.

Meanwhile, ACHAP director of programmes, Mr Lesego Busang said there had been drastic increase  in new HIV/AIDS infections across the world and Botswana was not spared.

He appealed to Batswana to always use protection and have themselves tested to know their status.

Mr Busang lamented that men were still reluctant to take the first steps towards testing without being forced.

He said the state of affairs where men failed to come forth also required community involvement. Ends