26 Aug 2021

Women continue to do better than men in seeking life-saving services such as testing for HIV compared to men.

A report by serowe District Development Committee (DDC) District Officer - Development (DOD) Ms Itumeleng Peter shows that in the last four months alone, a total of 3 963 people took the HIV test. More than half this number comprised women, as only 1 262 men against 2 701 females tested. Only 95 people tested positive. 

Ms Peter was presenting on the implementation of projects for the first quarter of the current financial year on Tuesday.

On safe male circumcision, Ms Peter stated that during the quarter under review, 30 out of 39 clients who had undergone male circumcision counseling went through with the operation.

She said the remaining nine clients had been deferred due to different medical conditions among them sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

 Ms Peter however noted that there was a poor uptake of the programme due to COVID-19.

“The outbreak of COVID-19 has led to poor uptake of SMC and reluctance of men to be circumcised. Increased COVID-19 positive cases has led to shortage of staff in facilities as they have to partake in COVID-19 related activities such as testing, vaccination and contact tracing,” she explained.

She further stated the cases of STIs stood at 1 512, which she said showed a slight decrease from 1 893 recorded during the previous quarter.

Updating on antiretroviral therapy, Ms Peter revealed that a total of 14 510 HIV patients comprising 5 214 males and 9 296 females, and of whom 171 were non-citizens, were enrolled in the programme.

She stated that of the total figure, 113 were children aged below 12 years including two infants.

On Water Quality Monitoring, Ms Peter informed the meeting that the results of 10 samples taken during the quarter showed that nine out of 10 samples passed microbiological test from the 5 samples taken from Serowe, two from Mmashoro and Dimajwe respectively, while the one sample taken from Malatswae failed the test.

She indicated that all the 10 samples passed chemical and physical tests.

She however pointed out that Sehunou, Moiyabana, Thabala, Motshegaletau, Mabuo, Mogorosi, Mabeleapodi, Paje, Majwanaadipitse and Tshimoyapula were not sampled because the National Food laboratory was closed during the months of May and June.

On social upliftment programmes in the sub-district, Ms Peter said the Youth Development Fund (YDF) had funded 508 projects since its inception.

Of the number, 444 were operational while 57 had collapsed.

She added that seven appeals under the programme had been funded at the tune of P545 976.

Ms Peter said a total of 598 people had benefitted from employment opportunities created through YDF-funded projects

On women economic empowerment, she said the Department of Gender Affairs had funded a total of 43 projects under the programme.

She said 27 of the projects were operational, four were non-operational while 12 had collapsed due to group conflicts and market challenges.

Ms Peter said the programme had created 86 employment opportunities, the number comprising 69 females and 17 males. Ends