Revive SUs to fight HIV/AIDS Phuthego
Lindiwe Mozola | Tuesday March 7, 2017 16:54
Phuthego was addressing multitudes of youth that thronged Majestic Five hotel commemorating 20 years of Month of Youth Against AIDS (MYAA) held under the theme ‘Hands Up for #HIV Prevention’.
Phuthego said that SUs were pivotal in shaping the behaviour of students, noting that most of them are likely not to engage in early sexual intercourse exposing them to the deadly virus.
“With scripture preaching and reading introduced earlier, it will feed their spiritual being sooner hence learning how to handle themselves on issues such as alcohol and drug abuse, unprotected sex and teenage pregnancy, which still remain crises in the country as well as contributing factors to HIV/AIDS,” he said.
Phuthego urged teachers to encourage SUs in their respective schools so that the future citizens of the country do not perish due to reckless behaviour.
For his part, the assistant Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Kefentse Mzwinila said that the responsibility to fight HIV/AIDS begins with an individual because it is more about behaviour than anything else.
“As we move towards Vision 2036 we endeavour to build a strong and vibrant HIV-free nation that will usher Botswana into the next 50 years through youth who are responsible, respectful, accountable and who uphold strong moral values of botho, bonatla, botlhaga and botswerere,” Mzwinila said.
He further stated that it is important to remind the nation that HIV/AIDS is still a concern in Botswana as there are new infections and young people are the hardest hit.
The statistics from the Botswana AIDS Impact Survey 2013 (BAIS IV, 2013) indicate HIV prevalence for the 15-years-old to 19-years-old bracket at 29% for males and 6.4 percent for females. Age group 20 to 24 males recorded five percent prevalence and females 14.7%.
In addition the HIV prevalence for the age group 25 to 29 is 13.2% male and 21.7% females whereas for age group 30 to 34 is 26.8% males and 40.3% females respectively.