Botswana News

Ministry of Health together with WHO Botswana, commemorated World Malaria Day in Maun on the 12th of May. This event catered to a diverse audience, including local malaria survivors who have received life-saving malaria treatment. To mark this occasion, the event emphasized the need to bolster malaria response across the country, especially in malarious districts such as Bobirwa, Palapye, Mahalapye, and Okavango where cases of malaria continue to be reported. 

The WHO Regional Director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti visited Botswana to engage with the country leadership and discuss the organization of the seventy-third session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa (RC73) that will be held in Gaborone from 28 August to 1 September 2023.

“I was unconscious, with severe headache and fever. Three days later, my family and I realized it was malaria after being tested at a nearby health post.” A community member of Mogotho Village from Okavango, one of Botswana’s most malarious districts explained his ordeal at the hands of the disease. “I almost died," he added as he remembered how the disease affected his body.  Aged 77, the man described how he contracted malaria after being bitten by a mosquito outside his home in Okavango District.

The laboratory plays a major role in the diagnosis of disease conditions as well as in monitoring treatment. This also includes early detection of diseases during emergency response to disease outbreaks before spreading into communities. In this critical process, some policies and procedures need to be in place to achieve quality, timely and reliable results to ensure accuracy in diagnosis as well as appropriate patient care and disease management.

Estimated at 43 million in 2010, the population of elderly people in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to reach 67 million by 2025 and 163 million by 2050, according to WHO.
The population of older persons in Botswana is growing and as in most developing countries, the socio-economic development has often not kept pace with the rapid speed of the ageing population.  The proportion of older persons was 6% which was an increase from 5% in 2001 and is projected to be more than 8.5% and 20% in 2021 and 2050, respectively (National Census 2011).

Statistics Botswana in collaboration with the OECD's Partnership in Statistics for Development in the 21st Century (PARIS21) and the WHO Country Office are running a three-day training programme from 12-14 December 2022 in Gaborone, entitled “Health Data Communications Bootcamp”. The bootcamp is attended by journalists, health statisticians, researchers, communications practitioners, monitoring and evaluation experts from the National Statistical System of Botswana as well as public relations officials of UN agencies in the country.

In the African Region, non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are set to overtake communicable diseases, maternal, neonatal, and nutritional conditions combined, to become the leading cause of death by 2030.  COVID-19, along with spiralling obesity, diabetes and hypertension rates, compounds the challenge, highlighting the urgency of a multi-sectoral response.

A group of 70 representatives from different governmental agencies and institutions in Botswana were trained between 20 and 29 June 2022 to strengthen their skills and capacities to effectively coordinate emergencies with public health impact using a functional public health emergency operations center (PHEOC) to enable an all-hazards and multisectoral approach. 

On the occasion of the 75th session of the World Health Assembly (taking place in Geneva between 22-28 May 2022), His Excellency Dr Mokgweetsi E.K. Masisi, President of the Republic of Botswana shared Botswana’s health trajectory, particularly in the midst of country’s efforts to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.