Botswana plans new anti-AIDS campaign

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Tuesday August 30, 2011 00:00

 

It is a new HIV/AIDS prevention initiative that will utilise cellphone messages, Facebook and Twitter to sensitise the people about the virus and its effects. Dubbed WISE UP!! The campaign will be launched by Mokgweetsi Masisi, the Minister for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration. 

NACA spokesperson, Lorato Mongatane said the campaign will run for the next five years. The campaign will pass HIV/AIDS prevention messages targetting the 10-24 age bracket.

'The objectives of the campaign are to utilise mass media communication to increase young people's knowledge of modes of HIV transmission, misconceptions about HIV transmission, young people's risks and vulnerability to HIV infection and HIV services available in the country,' she said.  Mongatane added that specific message packages will be designed for specific age groups within the age bracket. The packages will be relevant since they will consider age, sex, location and occupation.

 NACA will require individuals to register by sending required details to 16868. Those who register will receive messages after the launch.

'We will require children to send their personal details for us to create a database. We need to know their sex, date of birth, location and occupation,' Mongatane explained.  Registration will cost P2 and thereafter subscribers receive messages at no cost on a daily basis. Mongatane said they are aware that pupils should not carry cellphones to school. NACA will therefore send messages at specific times so that they do not interfere with schoolwork.

'For the 10 to 14 age group, we will send messages after school between 4-5pm. For the 15 to 19 year-olds, they will receive messages between 6-9pm. These are junior school pupils and we know they like using phones at night so we want to take advantage of that time,' she said. The last group will receive information at any time as they have unrestricted access to their cellphones.

NACA and UNICEF came up with the campaign after a study conducted in 2008 showed that only 43 percent of young people aged between 15-24 had comprehensive knowledge of HIV. The figure is far below the Botswana Universal Access and 2001 United Nations General Assembly Special Session, (UNGASS) targets of 50 percent and 95 percent by 2010.  Almost half of adolescents could not correctly identify the most common misconceptions about HIV/AIDS transmission in Botswana.

Mongatane said that lack of knowledge is one of the major factors making young people vulnerable to HIV infection, hence the campaign.  The HIV prevalence in the 20-24 age group in Botswana has been found to be three times as high as that of the age group 15 -19 years. This shows that young people do not have the required information and skills to safely transit from one stage of life to the next. By age 17, half of the boys and girls in Botswana have had sex. However, consistent condom use with regular partners is very low among young people.