More than 1,000 young people acquired HIV in 2025, with females accounting for nearly 78 percent of infections in the 15-to-24 age group.
BONGANI MALUNGA
Botswana’s fight against HIV has come under renewed scrutiny after the National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAHPA) raised alarm over the number of teenagers and young people contracting the virus, identifying intergenerational sexual relationships as a possible driver of the trend.
Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Tuesday, NAHPA National Coordinator Ontiretse Letlhare questioned why adolescent girls and young women continue to account for the overwhelming majority of new HIV infections, arguing that the pattern points to older sexual partners as a significant source of transmission.
“Statistics show that young kids start being sexually active as early as 15 years, some even as early as 13. The fact of the matter is, new infections occur on the females more than their male counterparts in the 15-24 age group. The question we need to be asking ourselves is ‘Where are they getting the virus from?’ The brief answer could be that we see a lot of intergenerational sexual relations within our communities,” Letlhare explained.
YOUNG WOMEN
The UNAIDS 2025 Epidemic Estimates Report paints a concerning picture of HIV infections among Botswana’s youth. It estimates that 1,077 people aged between 15 and 24 acquired HIV in 2025, with 839 of those infections occurring among females.
The figures mean that nearly 78 percent of all new infections in the age group were recorded among young women, highlighting the disproportionate burden they continue to carry.
The data reinforces long-standing observations by UNAIDS and NAHPA that adolescent girls and young women remain among the most vulnerable populations in Botswana’s HIV epidemic.
Health experts have attributed this vulnerability to a combination of social and economic factors, including age-disparate relationships, transactional sex, gender inequality and limited power to negotiate safer sexual practices.
DEEPER QUESTIONS
Letlhare said the statistics should prompt deeper national introspection rather than a focus on the numbers alone. He argued that understanding who young women are contracting HIV from is critical if Botswana is to reduce new infections and achieve its epidemic control targets.
PREVENTION GAP
According to UNAIDS, Botswana has made remarkable progress in expanding HIV treatment and reducing AIDS-related deaths over the past two decades, but preventing new infections, particularly among adolescents and young women, remains one of the country’s biggest public health challenges.
NAHPA has stressed that ending the epidemic will require more than medical interventions. The agency says Botswana must strengthen prevention programmes, address harmful social norms, tackle gender-based vulnerabilities and confront intergenerational sexual relationships to reverse new infections among young people.