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Home / Arandis teen pregnancies worry Erongo governor
Arandis teen pregnancies worry Erongo governor
2015-06-25Staff Report 2 "Windhoek Erongo Governor Cleophas Mutjavikua has said the town of Arandis faces a high prevalence of teenage pregnancies from migrant workers in the uranium-rich region. “Those workers from abroad and other regions are generally contract workers and during that timeframe they impregnate women and teenage girls before they leave. The upbringing of these children then solely rests on the mothers’ shoulders,” he stated. He referred to the 2014 HIV Sentinel Survey conducted by the ministry of health and the fact that the overall HIV prevalence and infection rate for the country has gone down from 18.2 percent to 16.9 percent. But according to a recent survey, Usakos is among the towns with the highest infection and prevalence rates in Namibia with Karibib and Arandis also in the danger zone. Mutjavikua was speaking at an HIV/AIDS media campaign hosted by the Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (NIMT) at Arandis last Friday. About 800 NIMT students were in attendance. NIMT executive director Eckhart Mueller also emphasized the importance of sharing one’s HIV status with the people they love and urged that the campaign also visit NIMT’s northern and southern campuses. The ambassador of the campaign Bernard Kamatoto, who has been living with the HIV virus for more than 15 years, gripped the students when he shared his jaw-dropping experience with them. “I was once a successful healthy boxer but as a result of ignorance, I ended up with the virus. Alcohol and sex is a deadly combination, as people tend to not care about safe sex when intoxicated. I know it is [nice] to have sexual intercourse but remember five minutes of unprotected pleasure can result in serious consequences as there is still no cure for HIV/AIDS,” warned Kamatoto. Mutjavikua also encouraged men to go for voluntary circumcision and for people to share their status with the ones they love and young people to focus seriously on their education and if sexually active, to ensure that safe sex is practised with a single, tested and faithful partner. The students were also treated to a demonstration and motivational heart-heart with community counsellor and nurse at the Arandis State Clinic Helena Arus. The main aim of the campaign was to help all HIV-positive people to disclose their status to their loved ones and encourage parents and guardians to tell their children who are HIV positive to share their status and practice safe sex and continue to disclose their HIV status. The campaign themed, “Share your status with those you love”, was conducted at NIMT in Arandis. " 2015-06-25Staff Report 2
