12 Jun 2013

To mark 10 years of existence, Botswana Baylor Children’s Clinical Centre of Excellence has opened an adolescent Centre in Gaborone which will help ensure a transition process of HIV infected children.

Speaking during commemoration on June11, the Minister of Health Dr John Seakgosing said the opening of the centre marked a milestone in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The centre, he said, is a public- private partnership between government and the Baylor College of Medicine International Pediatric AIDS Initiative (BIPAI) providing comprehensive care and psycho social support and training of health care professionals.

“In partnership with my government and other local NGOs, the centre has truly become a centre of excellence that is known around the world as a premier treatment centre for HIV infected children,” he noted.

The minister said it was impressive that annual death rates for centre patients rapidly dropped from about five per cent in 2003 to 0.3 per cent in 2006 and have remained less than one per cent up to date.

Dr Seakgosing noted that ten years on, 92 per cent of the children on treatment at the centre still have undetectable HIV virus in their blood adding that loss to follow up on treatment is as low as 1.8 per cent.

For these excellent achievements, he said the centre has been a recipient of several national and international awards.

Minister Seakgosing indicated that the day marked the celebration that with proper care, HIV infected children have not died but survived over the past 10 years to become adolescents.

“These adolescents now pose emerging new needs that require innovative responses and approaches to enable them to successfully navigate the dangerous straits between adolescents and adulthood,’ he noted.

Dr Seakgosing highlighted that the Botswana-Baylor Bristol-Myers Squibb Phatsimong Adolescent centre will be remembered as the first adolescent centre in Botswana and Africa.

He said Batswana can take pride in leading the continent in to the new era where HIV has been proven to be a manageable though chronic disease yet compatible with a long productive life.

The minister stated that the centre obtained a grant from the Bristol-Myers Squibb foundation’s Secure the Future programme through a $150 million commitment to five worst affected countries in Africa namely South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and Botswana.

Dr Seakgosing thanked all the stakeholders for their continued support to the country’s initiatives of fighting the scourge of HIV and many others.

He further commended the staff and leadership of the Centre for their excellent service to the country and for positive image of Botswana that they project on the international scene.

Bristol-Myers Squibb chief executive officer, Mr Lamberto Andreotti said it was their goal to fight HIV/AIDS adding that when the project was launched 14 years ago they targeted mother and children worldwide as they are the most vulnerable.

He said the opening of the adolescent centre is way of showing their commitment and support for Batswana.

“We want these children to live a normal life like their age mates and later support their families when they grow up,” he noted.

He highlighted that the 10th year anniversary is a testament to their partnership with the government of Botswana. 

He also thanked all the partners for putting in efforts for the success of the centre. ENDS