03 Nov 2013

Okavango senior assistant district commissioner, Mr Lenamile Montsho has expressed concern about the number of teenage pregnancy cases in the sub-district.

Speaking at the Live American Jazz Band concert organised by the Botswana Christian AIDS Intervention Programme (BOCAIP) in Gumare recently, he said teenage pregnancy continued to be a problem in the district, adding that in the first and second quarter, they registered 88 and 64 cases respectively.

Mr Montsho said it was a challenge as many teenagers were dropping from schools in the sub-district. He said there was a need to strengthen parent to child communication in the area of sexual reproduction to create awareness about teenage pregnancy.

On the antiretroviral (ARV) programme in the area, he said about 5 681 patients were on ARV treatment. He added that 553 patients who were on ARV treatment  died this quarter.

He also informed residents that about 114 women were enrolled in the PMTCT programme and that 134 infants were born to mothers enrolled in the programme.

Furthermore, he said the sub-district intended to increase condom distribution in the area with the target of distributing over 140 000 condoms per month.

Mr Montsho said statistics had shown that more females than males test for HIV and AIDS and appealed to the public to continue encouraging males to test so that they could know their status.

For his part, BOCAIP/Gumare Counselling Centre Coordinator, Mr Emmanuel Segotso said their vision was to mobilise and coordinate the Christian community in order to make an impact by implementing HIV related behavioural change interventions.

Mr Segotso said BOCAIP aims to reduce HIV infection through abstinence and being faithful and to mitigate the psychosocial impact of HIV and AIDS on community members.

Furthermore, he briefed the community on their current activities and services, saying they included HIV and AIDS counselling and testing, psychosocial support programme for orphans and vulnerable children and community outreaches and mobilisation. Ends