29 Jun 2021

An Okavango Sub-district official has expressed concern over the rate at which people in the region defaulted on ARVs. 

Giving an overview of the region’s HIV/AIDS situation during an international HIV/AIDS candlelight memorial event in Shakawe recently, assistant district AIDS coordinator Ms Kesegofetse Merapelo said a recent exercise carried out in Gumare alone indicated that 376 people had stopped taking their ARVs.

Condemning the behaviour, Ms Merapelo said it negated government efforts to win the war against HIV/AIDS. 

 A total of 8 388 people were on antiretroviral therapy in the area, she said adding that according to an AIDS study, HIV prevalence in Okavango was high at 16.5 per cent with females accounting for 15.4 per cent.

Ms Merapelo also complained about low HIV testing rate among the Okavango population as well as poor uptake of the Safe Male Circumcision Programme which had seen only 118 men circumcised against a target of 1 800.

Okavango residents were however commended for 100 per cent uptake of the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission programme (PMTCT) which Ms Merapelo said was one of the most successful HIV prevention programmes in the country. 

Another speaker at the event  was Okavango MP Mr Kenny Kapinga who said zero new HIV/AIDS infections by 2030 was attainable. 

   He encouraged people not to conceal their HIV status from sexual partners as the behaviour rendered futile Botswana’s efforts of reducing the spread of the virus. 

Stressing the need for behavioural change, he noted that government had over the years come up with HIV/AIDS prevention programmes that effectively worked for the country.

About the candlelight memorial, the MP said it was during such events that people remembered and supported those infected and affected by HIV at the same time restoring their hope. 

Such commemorations served to remind Batswana that HIV still prevailed and that people should take care of themselves, said Mr Kapinga. Ends