Zero Stigma, Zero Discrimination and Zero Infection: A Farfetched Dream for Botswana

Abstract

Botswana has been hailed as one of the few African countries that has tackled the HIV and AIDS scourge head on. This is evident in the number of measures she put in place to curb the pandemic, these include among others free distribution of Anti-Viral drugs, preventing transmissions of the virus from pregnant mothers to child by rolling out Prevention from Mother to Child Transmission Programme (PMCT) to mention but a few. Despite all these initiatives new infections continue to rise and people are still dying of HIV and AIDS related ailments. The question that comes to mind is where has Botswana gone wrong? It is as a result of these recurring incidents that the paper argues that in spite of all the concerted efforts, the zero stigma, zero discrimination and zero infection remains a farfetched dream. The paper will discuss at length why the slogan is an impossible dream by looking at specifically male prisoners who have been requesting the Botswana Government to provide them with condoms because of their vulnerability within the prison cells. Secondly, sexual minorities of Botswana who survive behind the mask will be discussed. In the former, the government has refused to bend stating it was unconstitutional. Since male and female prisoners did not share prison facilities by distributing condoms they will be encouraging illegal acts within prisons designated to males. By virtue of being unrecognised by the Constitution of Botswana, sexual minorities of Botswana continue to be under constant attack from the Botswana Government and the Church. Unless these two issues are fully addressed, the paper concludes that zero stigma, zero discrimination and zero infection for Botswana will always remain out of reach.