People living with HIV/AIDS should have information on the safest way to have a child.
THATO CHWAANE
STAFF WRITER
STAFF WRITER
MMEGI ONLINE
The HIV/AIDs director of Academy for Educational Development (AED)-Botswana, Kirsten Weeks, said affected people should be able to choose whether to have children or not.
Weeks said this at the half-day 'needs assessment' workshop held at Gaborone Sun yesterday.
She said they should have the necessary tools to guide them to have babies in the safest way. She said women should not use protection in the fertile days of the month and use condoms for the rest of the days to avoid HIV re-infection.
Weeks said people who choose this route should be made to understand that they risk re-infection or they might re-infect their partners.
She said that this is their choice, and just because they are living with HIV does not mean they do not have a choice as long as they have all the facts.
The director of Centre of Youth for Hope (CEYOHO), Kesego Basha-Mupeli, called for guidelines for those who choose to conceive when living with the virus.
She said that when she asked for the guidelines from the Ministry of Health, she was told that there were none. She recommended the Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programme.
"We are human beings. We have a choice and still need to have families," said Grace Sedio from Bomme Isago Association.
She said they too had the choice of conceiving or adopting. She said that whether they have children or not should not be determined by their status, but rather, by their health.
She said that if the CD4 count is high and the viral load is undetectable, they should have that choice to conceive.
"We are not saying that people should not use condoms. We are saying we should be given information to make informed decisions," the health practitioners said.
Chief Health Officer from the Ministry of Health, Barbara Mudanga said it is important to prevent secondary and tertiary infections. She said there is a need for further empowerment of people living with HIV to prevent infections and for them to adhere to treatment.
Mudanga said that ARVs improved the quality of lives of people living with the virus, however, this alone is not sufficient and preventing further infection is essential.
The workshop will discuss the results of a report entitled "Needs assessment of opportunities to strengthen prevention with people living with HIV/AIDS in clinical and community settings in selected sites in Botswana'.
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