12 Mar 2014

A Botswana National Youth Council officer (BNYC), Mr Emmanuel Galeboe has encouraged the youth to change their behaviour and understand themselves in order to make informed decisions.

Speaking at the Month of Youth Against AIDS campaign hosted by the Ministry of Lands and Housing in Francistown on March 11, Mr Galeboe said  prevention of new infections remained key among the youth but noted it could only be achieved when they made the right decisions and practiced safe sex.

He said BNYC was trying to promote Adult-Youth Participation, which enabled communication between youth and adults on health issues especially, HIV/AIDS.

‘’In the National Youth Policy, in our month of youth intervention we have also added the age of 10 because children under the age of 10 are also involved in sexual activities”, he said.

Mr Galeboe urged women to encourage their partners to circumcise and stop multiple concurrent sexual partnerships (MCP) as a way of reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS.

He noted that the youth were mostly affected by drugs and alcohol abuse, especially those who were working as they had access to money. He thanked the lands and housing ministry for implementing programmes geared towards the fight against HIV/AIDS among the youth within the workplace.

Mr Galeboe said alcohol and drug abuse remained key factors that led to the spread of HIV and AIDS as intoxicated people were not likely to use the condom.

He said the youth policy agenda intended to ensure zero new HIV infections by 2016. To achieve this goal, youth should be sensitized and educate on issues around HIV and AIDS.

Speaking at the same event Francistown District HIV/AIDS officer, Mr Thatayaone Maithamako said children under the age of 15 were also among the campaign’s target as out 46 cases of teenage pregnancy reported in Francistown only, one case involved someone under the age of 15.

Mr Maithamako said that they recorded a high number of teenage pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections between October and December 2013, yet there were low numbers of people testing for HIV, which presented a challenge in the fight against new infections.

As a way of promoting the month of youth against AIDS campaigns, the Ministry of Land and Housing has deployed youth officers to sentise and educate the youth in the work place about the quest to attain zero new HIV/AIDS infections. Ends