Billy stresses tailored HIV/AIDS youth interventions

The Assistant Minister of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture, Buti Billy, has stressed the need for tailored interventions to effectively combat HIV/AIDS aimed at critical populations, particularly young people and other key groups. Despite prior praise for Botswana’s comprehensive policies addressing the scourge, recent years have seen an increase in HIV/AIDS prevalence rates amongst adolescents, youth, and other key demographics. It’s also evident that young people are less inclined to engage in initiatives meant to alleviate the burden of HIV/AIDS in the country. For instance, the 2021 Botswana AIDS Impact Survey 5 (BAIS V), released last year, highlighted significant gaps in achieving the UNAIDS 95-95-95 goals amongst adolescent girls aged 10 to 14 years, young women aged 15 to 24 years, young men aged 15 to 24 years, and adult men aged 25 to 34 years. These gaps include high prevalence rates, insufficient awareness of HIV status, suboptimal linkage to HIV treatment, and inadequate viral load suppression.

The 95-95-95 target stipulates that by 2025, 95% of all people diagnosed and living with HIV/AIDS should be virally suppressed, receive sustained ARV therapy, and know their HIV status. These targets are part of a broader strategy to end the global HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2030. Speaking at the launch of the Month of Youth Against AIDS HIV/AIDS in Dukwi last Friday, Billy emphasised the importance of using this year’s campaign as a catalyst for a renewed commitment to addressing the direct and indirect effects of HIV/AIDS amongst youth, adolescents, and key populations.

“Non-adherence to treatment, teenage pregnancy, alcohol and substance use. These challenges compromise the very efforts that the country is making towards ending HIV/AIDS by 2030. There is a need for programmes aimed at enhancing comprehensive knowledge of sexuality education amongst young people, amongst others, to combat these challenges effectively,” he said.

“Recognising the complexity of HIV/AIDS affected communities, we (both government and independent stakeholders) must make sure that particular interventions are put in place to meet the needs of critical populations, including youth, young, and teenage girls, amongst others,” he added. Billy also underscored the importance of eliminating obstacles to accessing testing, care, prevention, and treatment services for young people, especially the most vulnerable and marginalised. This, he said, would help shake off the overall effects of HIV/AIDS amongst young people.

“In order for young people to take the lead in the fight against HIV/AIDS, there is also a need to pay greater attention to what they have to say, value their knowledge, and include them in all levels of decision-making,” he added. He underlined the importance of creating an enabling environment for communities to take the lead in the HIV response, emphasising the need for the government and stakeholders to help sustain the momentum of community-backed initiatives aimed at mitigating the overall impact of HIV/AIDS in the country.

In recent years, there have been concerns that community initiatives meant to mitigate the general impact of HIV/AIDS are losing momentum due to a lack of support from the government and independent funders.