SEXUAL MINORITIES DEMAND INCLUSIVE HEALTH CARE

By Simangele Mzizi (BTM Intern)

BOTSWANA – 26 February 2010: In an effort to raise awareness about the plight of sexual minorities’ difficulty accessing proper health care in Botswana, a march will be held on Saturday (27 February) by Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals of Botswana (LeGaBiBo) together with other stakeholders to urge government to address this issue.

Skipper Mogapi of LeGaBiBo said the march will commence at 10:30 in front of the National Stadium in Gaborone and proceed to Riverwalk where a panel discussion around sexual minorities and access to health will take place.

Different groups consisting of lesbians, bisexuals, trangender, intersex , sex workers, people living with HIV, and unions, are expected to attend this march set to give government a wake up call about its healthcare responsibilities.

“It is high time that the government takes into consideration that there are people who are not heterosexuals who are also affected by HIV and we can not achieve universal access if we exclude other populations”, said Mogapi.

He explained that the march was prompted by a 2008 study which found that there are no HIV interventions that cater for men who have sex with other men (MSM) and women who have sex with other women (WSW) in Botswana.

Findings from the HIV Prevalence, Risks for HIV Infection, and Human Rights study among Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) in Malawi, Namibia, and Botswana suggest that MSM are a high-risk group for HIV infection and human rights abuses and are afraid to seek health services because of their sexual orientation.

“We hope to create dialogue between LGBTI’s, MSM’s, WSW’s, sex workers and health care providers and we want the community to be sensitised about studies regarding these groups”, he said.

“We have done a needs assessment of lesbian, gay and bisexual people with regard to service provision and the MSM HIV Prevalence study in partnership with the Prevention and Research Initiative for Sexual Minorities, has helped us to interact more with the community”, he said.

Around 300,000 people are living with HIV in Botswana and the government has committed to provide universal access to antiretroviral treatment and to achieve zero new infections by 2016.

“If we are neglecting other populations that target will not be achieved”, said Mogapi.

According to a report to the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNAIDS by the government of Botswana in late 2007, and by December 2008 around 145,000 people had been enrolled on antiretroviral treatment through a network of 81 clinics.

However sexual minorities are still marginalised and homosexuality is outlawed despite findings that indicate a higher HIV prevalence among MSM compared to the general population.

LeGaBiBo is a gay rights organization aiming to promote recognition, acceptance and equal protection of all human rights of the LGBTI community in Botswana.