BY MBONO MDLULI
MBABANE – Eswatini’s cities and towns can play a huge role in helping the country win its war on HIV/AIDS.
This was said by Minister of Housing and Urban Development Apollo Maphalala today (Thursday, November 21, 2024) during the commemoration of the World AIDS Day. The commemoration took place in Mbabane.
Minister Maphalala said Eswatini was at a critical point as far as fighting HIV/AIDS was concerned. He said the country was on the verge of winning its HIV/AIDS fight. However, there are these little things that can make this country take some steps back, according to the minister. The minister said cities had to make sure that no setbacks were taken by ensuring provision of good infrastructure.
The minister said the excellent infrastructure within their jurisdictions could play a vital role in reducing stress among people who were in romantic relationships within the urban areas. According to the minister, people engaged in pointless unhealthy debates because they sometimes had nothing else to do. Such debates led to situations where there were gender-based violence (GBV) aggressors and victims. Studies have shown that such situations led GBV victims, and sometimes aggressors, to seek romantic solace from some people, who could expose them to HIV/AIDS.
He was of the view that the presence of the infrastructure could help people avoid such situations. According to the minister, the use of excellent infrastructure could help reduce stress, ultimately reducing acts of GBV. Maphalala said romantic partners, such as a wife and a husband, who had a tendency of spending time in parks had chances of improving their relationships, moving away from GBV acts, which could lead to contraction of HIV/AIDS.
According to Maphalala, parks and other facilities that were not maintained in urban areas would not be used by anyone. Such a situation could increase stress levels among people, including romantic couples, who could lash out at one another to reduce the stress levels they had.