Men lagging behind on personal health

Correspondent | Thursday February 18, 2016 16:04

 

Speaking during a health seminar organised by the Department of Health Management Team (DHMT) on Saturday, Alona said that statistics show that men are still slow in responding to personal health matters. From April 2014 to March 2015, she said statistics show that men are also lagging behind in testing for HIV and AIDS. Only 10,364 men tested for HIV, while 13,294 women did.

She said this is an indication that men do not take the responsibility to get tested, which is worrying because most of the men are still sexually active. She said that if men continue to drag their feet when it comes to HIV testing it is not going to be easy to control the virus.

“Women often come to our facilities alone without partners and we wonder if it is a case of pride or hesitancy for men,” she said.

Alona also revealed that under the Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme they have registered 1,603 women but only 681 of these women came with partners for testing. She urged men to also take responsibility and support their partners who are on the PMTCT programme.

She also said that men do not take serious precautions for their health as many are still not taking their medication. She said that the aim of the seminar was to reach out to men so that they provide them with information on health issues.

“We are here to motivate men and engage them so that they understand the importance of taking their health into consideration,” she said.

Alona stated that they always ensure that health information reaches people. She said that they also encourage partners to test together as it makes it easy for them to provide medical assistance to them if they tested as partners.

“We always urge partners to come together for sexually transmitted infections (STI) testing and treatment. It does not help if only one partner gets medication as the one who did not take treatment can re-infect his partner,” she said.

She also said as the health sector they are worried as men still fail to utilise health facilities. She said that men should also understand that health facilities are not only meant for women and children.

The deputy mayor Molefi Pilane also urged men to take responsibility in their health issues to avoid exposing their partners to STIs and HIV. He said that some men still choose not to share with their partners their health status.

This, he said, is not fair to women as they end up contracting STIs and HIV. “There are many health facilities in our town and it is upon every men to utilise these facilities,” he said.