Botswana News

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.

Gaborone, 28 April 2022 – Pandemic-related disruptions, increasing inequalities in access to vaccines, and the COVID-19-related diversion of resources from routine immunization are leaving too many children without protection against vaccine-preventable diseases. As Botswana joins the world in celebrating World Immunization Week and the historic achievements through vaccines, the country needs to urgently turn the spotlight to routine immunization against common childhood diseases, such as measles.

Each year, more than 100 health emergencies occur in the African Region, including infectious disease outbreaks including cholera, yellow fever, meningitis, measles, Ebola, and more recently the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of these emergencies are preventable and controllable with proven public health interventions. 

There is a need for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to adopt healthy lifestyles to address the Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) that Botswana and all the countries in the region face.