Women and girls must respect their bodies - El-Halabi

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health Shenaaz El-Halabi has urged women to take responsibility for their health in order to reduce the increasing HIV/AIDS prevalence.

She said this at the official launch of the Antibody Mediated Prevention (AMP) study in Gaborone on Tuesday. According to El-Halabi, women should be able to say ‘No’ when it comes to their bodies and issues surrounding sex.

She encouraged them to go and screen for all types of diseases, saying it would make a difference in the country. “Your health is your personal responsibility. If you don’t know your health status, you are making life meaningless for yourselves,” she stated.

El-Halabi encouraged women and girls that if they are to make a difference in the country, they should first start with themselves, their households and their children. “We should begin next year on a good mindset. Nothing should hinder our health,” she said when speaking further against the practice of having multiple sex partners.

She challenged women to encourage their partners to do safe male circumcision, saying it reduces infection rates. Meanwhile, AMP study tests an experimental antibody against HIV in women in sub-Saharan Africa. The idea, according to Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership, Chief Executive Officer Joseph Makhema, is to see if antibodies that fight HIV will protect people from getting infected.

Young females between the ages of 15-17 years are mostly affected. It was also showed that unlike their male counterparts, females get infected earlier; specifically five to seven years earlier.