09 Dec 2013

Palapye legislator, Mr Moiseraela Goya says he is worried that energy behind the fight against HIV/AIDS has diminished over the years yet there is still no cure.

Speaking during the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) wise up arts festival held in Palapye last Friday, December 6 Mr Goya stated that the vengeance and tenacity that was there 15 years ago on the fight against HIV/AIDS was not more.

He further explained young people in Botswana were insufficiently informed about HIV/AIDS as compared to other countries, particularly in sub Saharan Africa. He said they were not well equipped to take the necessary steps to protect themselves from the infection. Mr Goya cited the Botswana AIDS Impact Survey III saying only 43 per cent of the young aged 15-24 years in Botswana had comprehensive knowledge of HIV in 2008.

Further he stated that almost half of the adolescents could not correctly identify the most common misconception about HIV transmission in Botswana. “Many boys and girls are not aware of the risks and vulnerabilities associated with HIV infection” Mr Goya said.

Even though the prevalence decreased between 2004 and 2008 in these age groups, he pointed out that girls remain twice as likely to be infected as boys. The HIV prevalence among the age groups 20-24 years, he said was three times as high as that of the age group 15-19 years.

“This shows that young people do not have the required information and skills to safely transit from one stage of life to the next. By the age of 17, half of the boys and girls in Botswana have already had sex.”

He said lack of knowledge has been identified as one of the major factors making people vulnerable to HIV infection. Nonetheless, he commended government for programmes geared towards combating the epidemic. He pointed out that more still needs to be done to improve pragrammmes for youth and adolescents.

“Therefore wise up is a good initiative to bridge this communication gap,” Mr Goya said.

He said UNICEF went an extra mile and trained some of youth in Palapye, Francistown and Maun to come up with storylines around HIV in order to be able to disseminate information through drama. That way, he said would ensure that those who did not have access to cellphones and Facebook could still receive HIV/AIDS messages. He applauded UNICEF for organising the event as they did not only afforded them the opportunity to showcase their talent but also shared the information with their peers in an entertaining way.

“To really achieve zero infection rate by 2016, then we should have many of this.”

The theme of the event was “Tackling youth and adolescence social issues through creative arts with focus on HIV/AIDS.” ENDS