The well‐being of gays, lesbians and bisexuals in Botswana

Abstract

The well-being of the GLBs in Botswana was influenced by both positive internal acceptance of their sexual orientation and negative external acceptance by society. Health care professionals played insignificant roles in the promotion of GLBs' well-being, and could make greater inputs into health education efforts, and more significant contributions towards enhancing the GLBs' levels of well-being. Enhanced collaboration between health professionals and human rights activists are recommended to reduce violations of Botswana's GLBs' dignity and to improve their quality of life, including enhanced access to and utilization of health care services.

Women Who Have Sex with Women Living in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review of Sexual Health and Risk Behaviors

“…First, interactions with health care practitioners are an opportunity for WSW to receive tailored sexual health education. However, many WSW in LMICs 28,[45][46][47] and in the United States 80,81 have difficulties accessing services and communicating their needs to providers. Providers in LMICs, no less than in other settings, should be trained to obtain a complete sexual history, provide relevant sexual health education, screen for alcohol and other substance abuse problems that increase HIV/STI risk, and encourage WSW to have routine gynecological visits with HIV/STI screening.…”

“…[41][42][43][44] Anti-gay laws negatively affect homosexuals and put them under distress. 24,45 Moreover, WSW desire sexual health education, but feel uncomfortable reporting their sexual practices and revealing their sexual identities to healthcare providers. [45][46][47] They also think healthcare providers lack training to work with non-heterosexual populations.…”

Homosexuality and HIV in Africa: An Essay on Using Entertainment Education as a Vehicle for Stigma Reduction

“…According to Ehlers et al (2001) Botswana Penal Code 1964 Chapter 08:01, Section 164 as amended by Penal Code 1998; Section 21 stipulates that engagement in same sex act is punishable by a term not to exceed 7 years. Also, under the Senegalese Criminal Code, (UNAIDS 2007) homosexual acts are punishable by 5 years imprisonment and a fine of 100,000-1,500,000 CFA francs (between 150 and 2,300 Euros).…”

“…The majority of the studies on MSM in Africa were conducted in South Africa where homosexuality is legalized (Lane et al 2006(Lane et al , 2008a(Lane et al , b, 2009Butler and Astbury 2008;Parry et al 2008;Sandfort et al 2008) and in other Southern African countries such as Zambia (Zulu et al 2006) and Botswana (Ehlers et al 2001;Ravesi et al 2006). Others include Eastern Africa: Kenya (Skovdal et al 2006;Geibel et al 2007;Sanders et al 2007;Sharma et al 2008); Malawi (Ntata et al 2008); Tanzania (Dahoma et al 2011); and Uganda (Kajubi et al 2008).…”

STD/AIDS prevention in Portuguese-speaking Africa: a review of the recent literature in the social sciences and health

“…The argument is that both homosexual and heterosexual anal sex is more common than admitted and may play a greater role in the AIDS epidemic on the African continent than recognized 26 . Additional authors have addressed the topic of homosexuality in other national African contexts, focusing on representations and stigmatization vis-à-vis AIDS 27,28,29 .…”