Contending with lax attitude of youth in HIV/AIDS prevention
Comprehensive knowledge of HIV remains low, condom use among sexually active young people is declining, and rates of forced sex and teenage pregnancy are ominously high despite increased awareness of HIV in general.
This is a concern of government that the youth population in Botswana remains highly vulnerable to the virus. At 23.8 per cent prevalence remains high particularly among young women of 15 to 49 years compared to their male counterparts at 11.8 per cent.
Botswana Family Welfare Association (BOFWA) believes that this vulnerability is fuelled by among others, intergenerational sex including multiple sexual partners.
BOFWA has also observed that young women particularly engage in unprotected sex with older men in exchange for gifts and money, while poverty is a factor, the other issue of concern is the high youth unemployment and
underemployment rate.
“There is also low condom use among adolescents and young people which often leads to high Sexual Transmitted Infections (STI) coupled with a high intake of alcohol and drug use which are high HIV risk factors,” BOFWA Programmes Director, Oatametse Otlhomile says.
Assistant Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Buti Billy concurs that the prevalence and incidence of HIV is exacerbated by the socio-economic meltdown, rising unemployment, substance and alcohol abuse and other social ills that have befallen the country.
“We regret with deep concern the alarming rate at which our young people’s lives are allegedly destroyed by the use of drugs and alcohol, the common in-thing being “katse,” which has tremendous effects on the mental health of our youth population,” he said.
BOFWA is ready to play its role in the fight against the scourge through projects that target adolescent girls and young women and adolescent boy and young men particularly through Combination Prevention Project in Maun and the Youth Helpline Project - a call centre for young people in Francistown.
According to Otlhomile, BOFWA has a project targeting key and marginalised populations such young people with and without disabilities and the LGBTQI+ community in Kgatleng and South East districts to further strengthen inclusivity by adopting a gender transformative approach to programming.
The organization also strives to reach out to hard to reach rural locations to provide much needed SRHR services such as Long Acting Reversible Contraceptives (LARCs) and capacitate the public service providers on providing Young Friendly Services.
March is the designated month for Youth Against AIDS (MYAA) and will be used to highlight initiatives and programmes that are intended to fight the scourge, with the hope that the youth will take heed.
Government designated the month of March in 1996 as the Month of Youth against AIDS to demonstrate its full commitment to fight the scourge of HIV and AIDS among other intervention strategies. This was to also encourage, sensitize and increase the uptake of comprehensive HIV knowledge among young people.
Otlhomile further says BOFWA has a young wing called Youth Action Movement (YAM) that encourages meaningful youth participation in programing, monitoring and evaluation of programmes and projects. The YAM is further engaged in the Board to be involved in the decision-making and direction of the organization. Through Comprehensive Sexuality Education single and structured sessions, YAM is tasked with engaging and sensitizing other young people in schools, out of school youth and conducting mall campaigns and activations to educate the public on HIV/AIDS prevention and access to iSRHR services.
BOFWA also co-chairs the Adolescents and Young People Forum (AYP Forum), which serves as a Youth dialogue and advocacy platform.
YAM members during this month will conduct peer education and condom distribution at different tertiary institutions. YAM has conducted a series of activities for this year at Old Naledi community.
In addition, BOFWA in partnership with UNICEF, will be conducting a youth forum engaging diverse representation of young people from different districts, leaving no one behind.
Assistant Minister Billy is also convinced that crucial measures need to be taken to help the young generation to achieve viral load suppression to address the gaps identified.
He added that to further end AIDS, the youth ministry through the Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC) implements a Youth Grants programme where Youth Serving Organizations (YSO) is financially and technically assisted to mold the character of a young person.
The Ministry is also recruiting professional counselors to conduct a Psycho-Social support to youth through a programme named Youth Counseling on Air (YOCA+), among other initiatives.