25 Mar 2021

The world and its leaders have only a year left to achieve the United Nations Political Declaration on Tuberculosis (TB) commitments.

Urgent actions and investments are therefore required to get back on track, says Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Edwin Dikoloti.  

Botswana, he said,  needed to accelerate its multi-sectoral TB response, recognising that the country fell short of meeting the United Nations high level meeting targets for ending the disease by 2030.

He was speaking in Gaborone Monday during the launch of the national stop TB partnership and TB survivor network forum.

The minister said  strengthening accountability for the TB response would contribute to quicker progress towards the targets.

About the partnership, he said it would provide an enabled environment to track commitments made, hold government accountable and provide networks of people affected with TB to be equal partners in decision making processes.

“This platform is a voluntary alliance between organisations drawn from different sectors of society including government, civil society and private/corporate sector who commit to work collaboratively towards the TB response, in which all partners contribute from their core competencies, share risks and responsibilities and benefit by achieving their own, each other’s and the overall goal,” he said.

Dr Dikoloti said he had no doubt the partnership would achieve more than his ministry could have achieved on its own. ENDS