- Botswana is one of the countries in the world with a high HIV prevalence. According to UNAIDS, It is estimated that about 350 000 – 400 000 people in Botswana are living with HIV. To mitigate this, the government, hand in hand with nongovernmental organisations such as BONELA, BOCAIP etc. have come up with strategies that are aimed at not only reducing the spread of HIV and Aids but also reducing new infections. These strategies include but are not limited to; offering sex education to in school adolescent girls and adolescent boys, having health promotional talks, facilitation of PrEP and PEP and most importantly distributing free condoms, not only to the key population but to the general public at large.
- Sadly, of recent, our country has been experiencing an uttermost shortage of condoms. Through our anecdotal data, we found out that out of the five districts which we are implementing in; Boteti, Francistown, Palapye, Tutume and Maun only 1 district which is Tutume is not affected by this phenomena. It has come to our attention that districts like Letlhakane and Palapye there are no condoms at all both in government health posts and non-governmental organisations such as Sisonke. In Districts such as Maun and Francistown, the DHMT reports that it is only left with a few boxes of condoms of which they are given to only key population.
- It is imperative that our government, and relevant stakeholders come together and act upon this problem. The lack of condoms in our country does not only threaten the achievements that Botswana has made in combating the HIV pandemic but also it threatens the global goal which is to end AIDS by 2030.We cannot reach this goal if we are unable to provide people with necessities that they use in order to protect themselves against this virus
- Government should consider engaging private sector in the short term to address condom stockouts. .
For more information, contact BONELA on:
Katlego Sechele at ksechele@bonela.org or 72282025
Cindy Kelemi at cindyk@bonela.org or 72385054
REFERENCES: https://www.unaids.org/en/regionscountries/countries/botswana