Why HIV/AIDS prevention strategies fail in Botswana: considering discourses of sexuality
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Date
2005-09Author
Ntseane, P.G.
Preece, J.
Publisher
Routledge. http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/0376835x.aspType
Published ArticleMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
A phenomenological study that was carried out among five ethnic groups of Botswana revealed the
importance of taking into account culturally situated sexual realities when prevention policies for
HIV/AIDS are considered and implemented. Furthermore the study threw light on the ineffectiveness
of the current national HIV/AIDS prevention strategy of ‘Abstain, Be faithful, or use a
Condom’ (ABC), a strategy that has been externally imposed on communities, without sufficiently
engaging the behavioural practices and values of the communities themselves. This paper therefore
advocates educational strategies for HIV/AIDS prevention that take into consideration localised
social relations and value systems. Devising policies that engage with the discourses that are dominant
in each ethnic group can make a difference in a country that has been hard-hit by the HIV/
AIDS epidemic