Bar-flies raise glasses and levels of awareness

Namibia's National AIDS Coordinating Programme (NACP) has called on informal bar (shebeen) owners to join the fight against HIV/AIDS, local newspaper The Namibian reported on Wednesday.

NACP programme manager, Abner Xoagub, said shebeen owners could play a vital role by providing condoms to customers and displaying educational pamphlets at their establishments.

Xoagub said tradition made it difficult for people to openly talk about sex and protection, but added: "If we do not talk about it while people are dying, we are fooling ourselves."

He said these bars were not just places where people could drink, but where levels of HIV/AIDS awareness could be raised.

"You know your customers and you know their partners. You can speak to them because if a good customer dies, you will lose money," Xoagub said.