10 Nov 2020

Botswana is among countries that have joined the COVAX Facility which presents the country with an opportunity to access COVID-19 vaccine once it becomes available, says President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi.

“A COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access Facility of the “COVAX Facility  was launched in April 2020 to accelerate the development and manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccines and to guarantee fair and equitable access for every country in the world, he told Parliament in his State-of-the-Nation-Address Monday.

He said as at September, a total of 156 countries across the globe were reported to have joined the COVAX Facility comprising 64 high income and 92 lower income economies representing more than 64 per cent of the world’s population.

“The availability of a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 is a critical step towards the control of the pandemic,” he said. 

The President said like elsewhere in the world, COVID-19 had exposed inadequacies in  Botswana’s health system to effectively deal with public health threats and emergencies. 

He said in order to deal with the challenge, the National Health Laboratory services capacity was improved to process 5 000 tests per day against the previous 500.

President Masisi said  improvements to build full capacity of 10 000 tests per day were ongoing as well as construction of testing laboratories at Mamuno, Kasane and Maun planned for completion by the end of this month. 

Regarding the COVID-19 relief fund, the President indicated that it totalled P2 134 557 839 of which P2 billion was seed capital by government and P134 557 839 contributions from individuals, civil society organisations, private sector and development partners.

He further said so far an amount of P1 844 677 264  had been disbursed out of which P831 113 202 went to wage subsidy,  P350 870 083 to food relief and P396 710 434 towards health supplies.

Dr Masisi said P58 200 748 was disbursed to the Ministry of Basic Education for temporary employment of safety, health and environmental officers as well as for psychological support.

An amount of P11 099 679 was utilised for the evacuation and financial support to Batswana abroad while P196 680 098 was given to Botswana Agricultural Marketing Board for strategic grain reserves, the President said.

He said P200 million out of fund’s balance of P289 880 575 had been reserved for the tourism sector wage subsidy as approved by government.

Turning to the health sector in general, Dr Masisi said through the Revised National Health Policy, government was pursuing the delivery of quality universal health care services with the objective of attaining health for all by 2036. 

He said Botswana had made tremendous efforts in tackling the HIV/AIDS pandemic adding that the country surpassed UNAIDS 90-90-90 targets in 2019 and had now set new ones as 95-95-95. 

The President revealed that HIV/AIDS related deaths had declined by 28 per cent between 2010 and 2019.

On the negative side, he said alcohol and substance abuse remained a matter of concern to the nation necessitating treatment of those affected. 

To address the challenge, a  national health rehabilitation policy was being developed, he said. ends