Mmegi/The Reporter (Gaborone)
Editor
2 November 2009
editorial
Gaborone — It is a well-known fact that Botswana is highly affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. As a result, a lot has been done to try and militate the effects of the scourge.
President Festus Mogae took it upon himself to lead and spearhead the fight against the disease. He literally declared war on AIDS and declared that ntwa e bolotse.
It was during Mogae's tenure that antiretroviral drugs were introduced and provided freely to locals. The drugs went a long way in helping those that were already infected with the disease. Of course, there were those who did not take advantage of the service provided by the government at the time and they eventually lost their lives prematurely.
All this time, behavioural change has been pointed out as one of the major problems that society has to address and change. For as long as people are involved in extra-marital relationships as well as having multiple partners, it is always going to be difficult to win the war against the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The Ministry of Health and other non-governmental organisations intensified the fight and put programmes in place to fight the disease.
The ABC strategy was among those preached. The issue of concurrent partners has also been discouraged as people were encouraged to be faithful to one partner but it seems like this message is not really going through as there are still people with more than one partner. This is normally referred to as 'the small house'.
We would like to encourage our brethrens to desist from having more than one partner. In this day and age when so much has been said and done to teach people about the disease and what needs to be done, we do not expect this situation to be still talked about.
It is important that as individuals, we take it upon ourselves to make good decisions about our lives, lest we continue to perpetuate the spread of the dreaded and deadly virus.
By now, all of us should be informed about the disease. What is left is for all of us to be teaching the young ones as they grow up about the disease and preparing them so that they do not fall prey to the disease, like those who came before because of lack of education about the disease.
Our ultimate goal is to achieve zero infections.
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