​Thembisa Shologu
The Gauteng Provincial Government, on Thursday, hosted a webinar to share insights on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout programme within the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, Asexual, Pansexual (LGBTQIAP+) community.
The session, led by the MEC Infrastructure Development, Tasneem Motara, featured prominent speakers in the health care industry and LGBTQIAP+ community.
Motara said the engagements would assist GPG to be inclusive in the COVID-19 vaccination drive and address barriers limiting the LGBTQIAP+ community from fully participating in government programmes.
"The conversation with the LGBTQIAP+ community is on how government can increase access to healthcare in general and specifically facilitate access to the COVID-19 vaccine for this community, said Motara.
Department of Health's Head of Communications, Motalatale Modiba said shortfalls in government communication were highlighted.
"They felt that as government, we should be engaging and empowering them with information which will ensure that they are not left behind. We did concede that there is a need to mainstream how we communicate, and we include issues that affect the LGBTQIAP+ community," said Modiba. 
One of the resolutions was the need for the vaccination rollout programme to be more inclusive.  
"Being inclusive means that we need to bring in people from the LGBTQIAP+ communities to come and be part of the communication stream and allow them to play an active role in shaping messages and also in assisting us to reach their sector," he said. 
Furthermore, the session addressed the need to improve public health for sexual and gender diverse populations as discrimination is still prevalent.
"You have some people trying to sneak in the conversation around religion and probe how your family feels about your sexuality. There is an issue of sensitization when it comes to our healthcare system because, in as much as they know about LGBTQIAP+ individuals, they don't know how to provide services for us," said Mveleli 'Dr Love' Gqwede.​