19 March 2009:
BONELA to hold Awareness-Raising March on World TB Day
The Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV and AIDS (BONELA) invites, health service providers, people living with HIV and AIDS, the media, civil society organizations and other concerned individuals to an awareness-raising march on tuberculosis (TB) on Tuesday 24 March 2009. The march which will coincide with World TB Day commemorations is part of BONELA’s ongoing TB campaign.
BONELA has since 2008 embarked on a TB campaign to address several emerging and pertinent issues particularly addressing its efforts towards mitigating the impact of TB on people living with HIV. Tuberculosis poses one of the greatest risks to people living with HIV and AIDS. Although preventable and curable in most cases, it is the biggest killer of people living with HIV and AIDS. In sub-Saharan Africa, up to 50% of people living with HIV will develop TB, and without proper treatment, approximately 90% of them will die within months. It is clear that the fight against AIDS will not be won without also fighting TB-a reality the HIV community has known for over two decades.
The TB campaign falls under BONELA’s Treatment Literacy programme. Treatment literacy is a model that empowers communities with comprehensive knowledge on issues around HIV/AIDS. This model turns ordinary people into informed advocates for health, enabling them to support the scale-up of treatment in communities and to hold governments and policy makers accountable for the delivery of quality health services.
BONELA anticipates to hold this march in conjunction with networks of people living with HIV and AIDS, HIV and AIDS activists, other Civil Society Organisations and interested individuals. The march will commence from the National Stadium at 10:30 am to the Main Mall.