Jwaneng records one infant death in two years
Lebogang Baingapi | Friday April 3, 2015 12:17
At a Youth Against AIDS ceremony held in Jwaneng on Tuesday, she said between 2012 and 2014, Jwaneng registered only one child born with HIV. She said this is proof that the prevention of mother to child is effective and pregnant mothers to test for HIV and enroll in the programme to save their infants.
However, the same success has not been replicated elsewhere as the general HIV prevalence rate in Jwaneng remain high. Keipeile said statistics show that 12 percent of the adult population in the town is living with the virus. At the gender level, 17 out of 100 women are living with HIV in Jwaneng, while nine out of 100 men in the town have the virus. Keipeile said teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, alcohol and multi-concurrent relationships remain a challenge in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Youth, Sports and Culture Minister, Thapelo Olopeng told the ceremony that government is concerned about the pandemic which affects mostly the youth. “Young people have positive energy that they can use to fight the virus,” he said. He added the AIDS impact survey has indicated that the prevalence of HIV in the 15-24 age bracket has reduced while it has increased in the 25-29 category.
Olopeng said the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections is on the rise in the 15-49 age bracket because of multi-concurrent relationships. He stated that problems associated with HIV/AIDS are behavioural and can be addressed at the individual level.
He encouraged the youth to take responsibility for their actions and refrain from activities that can put them at risk of contracting the virus. He said behavioural change survey has indicated that 19.1% of the youth have sexual intercourse before the age of 13. He called on parents to collaborate with the government to give guidance to children. “Government is committed to seeing an HIV free generation and we can achieve this through public cooperation,” he said.