Knowledge is a major factor among the spread of sexually transmitted diseases cases in Tlokweng.

This is because a person needs to know ways how to protect and prevent themselves from getting
STI’s and also learning about STI in general.Not using health barrier services which includes condoms
and dental dams during sex, is a fact that people still do not know about ways to protect themselves
from STI’s. according to (Harvard medical school,2023) they concluded that not using such services
lead to the transmissions of STI’s.it is further stated that people’s attitudes and knowledge increase
the spread of STI’s because of myths circulating around HIV. some of the myths about HIV is that
people who are infected with HIV and have undetectable levels of virus in their body cannot spread
HIV and so people no longer take necessary measures to protect themselves.(Harvard medical
schools,2023) said, “STI’s are illnesses caused by microorganism passed between people during sex”.
.lacking this kind of knowledge is what increases the rates of STI infections. Among the health sector
it seems that some health care professionals do not have enough knowledge on the STI pathology,
this means people can be showing signs that are mistaken as common symptoms for minor diseases.
Since the health care professionals cannot differentiate symptoms of STI, people end up not being
treated accordingly. Some studies revealed that a syndromic management approach is what helps
professionals treat STI without the help of laboratory techniques,(Ake et al,2021) So in this chapter,
our research will address the cultural beliefs and individual attitudes when it comes to sexual
activities and sexually transmitted infections. Since researchers have stated that people do not know
ways on protecting themselves against STI’s, the issue lies on how they acts towards that
knowledge.Poverty is also a driving factor in STI increase as some youths are involved in sex work so
as to generate income for some of the things they want. tlokweng is one of the areas in Botswana
experiencing high hardships due to expensive rents on house for students and also transport fees
and relevant studies show that areas with hardships are prone to high case of disease increase.
(Abotseng et al,2019)has clearly revealed that accessibility and affordability are enabling factor
increasing the spread of sti’s.it is said that long distances can cause people to avoid seeking medical
services relating to STI due to transport being expensive and for those who do not have means to
cars .People end up being cold feet and rather be involved in unprotected sex .Also these services
offered can be expensive and those that are poor cannot afford them .they rather have unprotected
sex that spend more money in this service and rely on the basic knowledge.(Abotseng et
al,2019)concluded that at least 10 males in Botswana do not travel long distance to access condoms
from the clinics and 34 females will also not go long distance to get condoms. This is an issue of
poverty because if they had the means to travel to the clinic they would reduce the risks of STI
transmission(transport fees and owning cars). This is one the research gaps as more studies fused on
the monetary part that drive people to be involved in unprotected sex .Since Tlokweng youth is
mostly made up of college students we will focus on policymaking to address STI’s. Some
interventions will include providing mobile clinics to avoid people walking long distances to access
health services.(Keller,2020) said that young people need education on sexual education and also
ways that can reduce the risks of STI .She focused more on policymaking and advocating of
structural and preventative services to be offered near people. This research goes hand in hand with
how our research aims to close a gap that other studies overlooked.