Ephraim Keoreng
1 September 2008
Former president and chairperson of the National Aids Council (NAC) Festus Mogae has expressed his concern that "Batswana continue to have multiple sex partners and condom use remains poor".
He said this was particularly worrying "in a country where about half the population have never tested for HIV and therefore do not know their HIV status".
Mogae said that the adoption of HIV preventive behaviour in general does not match the magnitude of the epidemic the country faces and the resources committed to the fight.
"In short, I advise Batswana to take this opportunity to think HIV prevention, to practise prevention, to preach HIV prevention as we move towards the target we have set ourselves: No new infections by 2016. I wish to re-emphasise what I have said many times in the past: We cannot afford to lose this war," he said.
Mogae was speaking at an NAC meeting in Gaborone where he also told his audience that it is of paramount importance to accelerate reversal of the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS.
Speaking at the same event, Nthabiseng Nkwe of the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS (BONELA) said that pregnancy may cause a temporary drop in the CD4 count, only for it to return to pre-pregnancy level soon after delivery.
She added that there are higher risks of opportunistic infections that need to be treated when they occur as they may affect the baby.
Nkwe said that in Botswana, cases where a mother enrolls on Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission (PMTCT), HIV transmission rates are as low as three percent, whilst the transmission of mother to unborn baby is estimated at 30-40 percent without PMTCT.
"Without intervention, 35-40 percent of HIV positive women transmit HIV to their infants. However, drugs like prophylaxis and formula feeding can reduce transmission to 5-10 percent and combination ARV (anti-retroviral) therapy can reduce transmission to one percent," she said.
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