Africa-Press – Botswana. Young people have been advised to take a lead and advocate for things they want to see change.
Officiating at the Month of Youth Against AIDS launch in Dukwi on Friday, Assistant Minister of Youth, Gender, Sports and Culture, Mr Buti Billy implored the youth to adopt Mindset Change and take a leading position to guide the nation in the direction they wanted to see things being done.
He said government had created a conducive environment for them to speak out and share their ideas.
He said platforms such as Botswana National Youth Council (BNYC) amongst others were established to empower and capacitate young people and had centres across the country where the youth could visit and seek advice from their peers as these centres were mostly run by young people like them.
Earlier in his welcome remarks, Kgosi Bohedile Twaelang of Dukwi had said young people particularly in his area were engaging in wayward behaviuor, which could put their lives in jeopardy such as transactional sexual relations.
In his response, Mr Billy said though unemployed was high, there were still other opportunities that young people could exploit to earn a living instead of risking their lives and exposing themselves to diseases such as HIV/AIDS.
He said young people could take advantage of the newly established Temo Letlotlo and venture into the agricultural sector as there were plenty of opportunities along the value chain of the sector, ranging from the actual farming to distribution of the end products.
Mr Billy therefore urged young people to engage into fruitful activities with positive impact on their lives that could progressively contribute to the country’s economy.
Meanwhile, giving an overview of HIV/AIDS analysis, Tutume District Health Management Team coordinator, Dr Keleabetswe Tsiako said there were 63 148 young people living with HIV on treatment in the country, according to the fifth Botswana AIDS Impact Survey of 2021.
Among the number, she explained that 14 293 were young people aged 15-24 while 48 855 accounted for the age group 25-34.
Dr Tsiako said this called for Mindset Change as some of the infections we a result of early debut of young girls into sexual activities with older men known as inter-generational sex.
She added that they did campaign to spread awareness messages speaking directly to young people to utilise services at their disposal to protect themselves.
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