The health agency says Botswana Prison Service must initiate policy if it wants inmates to access condoms
SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
The National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAHPHA) has challenged the Botswana Prison Service (BPS) to spearhead the development of a policy framework permitting the distribution of condoms to inmates, saying it is ready to support such an initiative if prison authorities determine there is a need.
FRESH HIV FIGURES RAISE ALARM
The intervention comes as fresh figures presented to Parliament reveal that 15 of the 211 inmates tested for HIV during the 2024/25 financial year were found to be HIV-positive, intensifying debate over HIV prevention measures in Botswana’s correctional facilities.
Appearing before Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC), BPS Commissioner Anthony Mokento said the prison service could not implement the committee’s recommendation to distribute condoms because there is currently no national policy authorizing their provision in prisons.
POSITIVE CASES RECORDED
Mokento told the committee that despite 15 testing positive, until a policy is developed and approved, the prison service has no legal basis to provide condoms to inmates.
Responding to Mokento’s remarks in an interview with The Botswana Gazette, NAHPHA coordinator Ontiretse Letlhare said the agency would have no difficulty supplying condoms if the prison service initiated the policy process and formally requested assistance.
PREVENTION STRATEGY
He said expanding access to condoms remains one of NAHPHA’s primary HIV prevention strategies and the agency is committed to extending that intervention wherever there is a demonstrated need.
Letlhare said any intervention within a prison environment must be driven by correctional authorities because they are best placed to assess conditions on the ground and determine whether such a programme is necessary.
‘WE WILL RISE TO THE OCCASION’
“For an intervention of this nature to succeed in prisons, it has to be facilitated by the prison authorities because they are on the ground and understand the concerns and needs of inmates,” he said.
He revealed that NAHPHA has never been approached by the prison service regarding the provision of condoms or informed that there is an urgent need for such an intervention.
OFFER STILL STANDS
“If they were to tell us there is a dire need, as NAHPHA we would certainly rise to the occasion and provide condoms. But to date, they have not approached us on the matter,” Letlhare said.
The debate follows last year’s recommendation by the PAC that condoms be distributed in prisons as part of efforts to curb HIV transmission among inmates. However, the recommendation remains unimplemented, leaving prison authorities and public health officials divided over who should take the first step toward introducing the policy.