Why HIV/AIDS prevention strategies fail in Botswana: considering discourses of sexuality

Abstract

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