13 Sep 2017

The United States Embassy has handed over a Centre for Disease Control (CDC) facility in Francistown to the Ministry of Health and Wellness.

Speaking at the handing over ceremony at Area W Clinic on Tuesday, US Ambassador to Botswana, Mr Earl Miller said CDC, through the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the Ministry of

Health and Wellness, found the need to increase laboratory capacity over the years to meet the needs of people living with HIV (PLHIV).

Mr Miller said as Botswana continued to diagnose and put PLHIV on treatment, the existing laboratory capacity became overwhelmed with the testing load.

“There was clearly a need to expand and decentralise laboratory services in areas with high HIV burden,” he said.

Mr Miller said the CDC worked with the Ministry of Health and Wellness to prioritise laboratory construction projects in Greater Francistown due to the large number of PLHIV, and that it was one of the districts that benefited from the PEPFAR support.

He explained that prior to the construction of the lab, all HIV-related laboratory testing for the Greater Francistown clinics was done at Nyangabgwe which congested the HIV Referral lab located at Jubilee cClinic.

Mr Miller said the Area W lab has a capacity for chemistry, hematology, microbiology, serology, immunology and viral load testing, patient waiting area, a storeroom, cold/freezer room, staff waiting room and two office spaces, and that it served 18 clinics in the Greater Francistown DHMT.

He further said the lab also supported the Botswana Ya Tsie Combination Prevention study and research needs of Greater Francistown and Botswana as a whole.

In receiving the lab, Assistant Minister of Health and Wellness, Mr Dikgang Makgalemele said the gesture by the US government supported the ministry’s core mandate of preventative strategy which was also enshrined in the NDP 11 targets.

He said the facility would go a long way in ensuring people in the north were accorded quality health services as it would allow for research on preventative approach.

Mr Makgalemele said “the ministry is looking at positive steps to be taken to the world and the story of the HIV/AIDS fight is one such.”

He said he was optimistic that the US and Botswana’s partnership would continue to grow in other areas.

Francistown mayor, Ms Sylvia Muzila appreciated CDC for contributing to the health of Batswana, adding that previously it contributed in the fight against TB.

Proposing a vote of thanks, Francistown East MP, Mr Billy Buti said the world over prevention had proven to be cheaper than cure, and that the gesture by the US government was a step towards research “which is imperative for prevention.”

The US Embassy handed over another lab, office facilities and porta cabins at Nyangabgwe Referral Hospital. ENDS