25 Nov 2018

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Alfred Madigele has applauded Tebelopele’s vision and resilience to step outside their comfort zone of HIV counselling and testing and acknowledge the greater good that they can do in meeting the holistic needs of an individual through providing integrated health services. 

Speaking at the official opening of Tebelopele Wellness Clinic in Gaborone recently, Dr Madigele noted that the integrated services comprises of HIV and STI screenings and treatment, family planning, screening for non-communicable diseases and post gender based violence services. 

The transformation, he said included health services now availed in Gaborone and Kweneng East locations through the government in partnership with FHI 360, LINKAGES and the Advancing Partners and Communities (APC). 

Dr Madigele said the services offered were for the general population adding that Tebelopele clinic staff had been trained in providing youth and key population with friendly services as part of its scope of work under FHI 360 projects. 

Therefore, he said the mandate was expected to be rolled out to other centres across the country. 

Tebelopele’s client centered approach of providing services under one roof, Dr Madigele said, assisted his ministry in achieving its goal of improving health outcomes for individuals, families and communities. 

He added that the idea also was a confirmation that the government alone cannot deliver health services without support and participation of the civil society, private sector and development partners. 

The minister said as the world braces itself towards ending AIDS as a public health problem by 2030, it was imperative that the ministry and other stakeholders galvanise all resources at their disposal to ensure that the goal of a world without HIV was met. 

Dr Madigele encouraged Tebelopele and other partners to explore other innovative ways of healthcare delivery by offering community ARV dispensing to some segments of the population through mobile outreach stating that the initiative had worked in other countries. 

He suggested that it could be piloted for its relevance and efficacy locally. 

Tebelopele Board of Directors chairperson Mr Pius Mokgware said the aim was to improve how individuals living with HIV were linked to treatment and supported to continue treatment after initiation, reducing the time between HIV diagnosis and engagement in care. 

He added that the shift was borne out of recognition that Tebelopele needed to move beyond HIV counselling and testing to supporting clients holistically, especially in referrals to government facilities as that posed a challenge, adding that individuals were not linking to services or the documentation was not available to confirm linkage. ENDS