Mosah Mokganedi
14 March 2008
Gaborone — The Botswana National Sports Council (BNSC) Executive Secretary Kagiso Kemoeng believes they have done well in the fight against HIV/AIDS with the little resources they have.
He explained that the council used to have an HIV office but it was closed because of lack of funds. He said the sponsorship for the office ended prematurely and the council did not have resources to continue its operations. The council then appointed one of its officers and an external volunteer who worked with the Department of Sports and Recreation (DSR) HIV desk. However, there was a setback when the desk coordinator left DSR. Kemoeng said all is not lost because the coordinator had secured funds from the BNSC from National AIDS Coordinating Agency (NACA) before he left and they are only waiting for the budget to be approved. He said they had a workshop late last year to see how they could use role models in the fight against HIV/AIDS. He said role models were equipped with skills and knowledge on HIV/AIDS.
Kemoeng said their response to the fight against the virus might be moving at a snail's pace because of financial constraints. He added that a shortage of finances has even affected their core business of running sport. "We are not saying issues of HIV/AIDS are not important. We are falling short and we think the problem is not peculiar to us," he said.
He added that in the near future, they will work closely with organisations like NACA to see how they can help each other in the fight.
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