Gaborone — There is need for Batswana to continue efforts to maintain and further advance viable strategies of ending HIV/AIDS by the year 2030.
Minister of Health, Dr Edwin Dikoloti highlighted this when officially opening a three-day UNAIDS Pitso in Gaborone on Monday.
Minister Dikoloti also urged Batswana to pull together and accelerate the pace to achieve such milestone given that only seven years were left on the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) path to eradicating the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
"Reaching the last mile requires things to be done differently, in alignment with the Presidents' mindset change reset agenda," he said.
He also called on all stakeholders to have a mindset change in combating the disease to ensure that the desired results were achieved.
He said Botswana, as one of the five countries globally that had already surpassed the global 95-95-75 HIV/AIDS targets, was doing well.
Dr Dikoloti indicated that generally, new infections had decreased by 66 per cent since 2010, an achievement that he said needed to be maintained.
Therefore, he said, individuals at the core of response in the last mile were best placed to guide the needs as well as help improve the programmes for a resilient response.
For her part, US deputy chief of mission, Ms Amanda Jacobsen said strategic planning and innovative approaches were needed to ensure that existing gaps in the remaining populations were closed.
"We require additional socio-behavioral and legal policy supports to ensure that they have access to invaluable HIV prevention and treatment services," she said.
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She also called for strengthened activities and stronger collaborations with the communities and engage with civil society groups, saying such partnerships were essential in bringing integrated services to individuals at all levels and ensuring that no one was left behind.
Ms Jacobsen further expressed support by the US government in the HIV response to the next level, as a shared vision for a future where all could overcome the challenges posed by HIV and work towards an AIDS free generation.
UNAIDS country representative, Mr Alankar Malviya explained that the aim of UNAIDS Pitso was to have stakeholders map a way forward to their findings, talk about the challenges they encountered and what needed to be done to eventually eradicate HIV/AIDS pandemic in the country.
Mr Malviya said the Pitso, held under the theme: Reaching the Last Mile and Sustaining the Gains of AIDS Response in Botswana, also gave stakeholders an opportunity to reflect, evaluate and assess elimination programmes as well as develop the HIV prevention roadmap 2023-2025.
The three-day Pitso had gathered partners and supporters of Botswana national HIV response to appreciate the ongoing activities and ensure that Botswana sustained the gains made thus far and reached the remaining populations to strive to achieve 100-100-100 for the UNAIDS HIV treatment goals.
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