By Anna Shilongo
KEETMANSHOOP
Health officials at Keetmanshoop have voiced concern over HIV/AIDS prevalence, which has seen a rise in the number of orphans in the town.
Officials are calling on the Government and NGOs to help them fight the spread of the pandemic.
Thirty three percent of the population in the Karas Region is infected with HIV/AIDS, with 19 percent in Keetmanshoop alone.
Briefing the Parliamentary Committee on Social Welfare that recently visited the region, the Director of Health in the Karas Region, Puumue Katjiuanjo, said HIV/AIDS and TB patients take up to three quarters of the hospital’s monthly budget.
Katjiuanjo said the hospital admits more HIV/AIDS and TB patients on a daily basis than for any other illness and the patients take up a month or more in hospital.
The hospital spends nearly N$120