28 Mar 2021

Minister of Health and Wellness has thanked USAID for funding civil society organisations at a tune of P328 million.

Speaking at the launch of the five benefitting organisations recently, Dr Edwin Dikoloti said such gesture by the USAID was paramount to the country’s health care agenda.

Dr Dikoloti thus appreciated the organisations for their hard work, saying their inclusion as direct fund beneficiaries would allow them to carry out their critical lifesaving work with the highest standards.

He said community healthcare was a key component of the country’s health care agenda as the organisations were in the frontline executing community health intervention and expanding access to much needed services. 

He affirmed government’s commitment to continue working with civil society organisations and other local government organisations to optimise the country’s provision of healthcare services and to the people of the country.

The five benefitting organisations were launched by US Ambassador to Botswana and would collectively receive P328m over a three-year period to implement HIV-related interventions at community-based level. 

Launching the organisations, Ambassador Craig Cloud said they would receive direct funding from the United States Presidential Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in order to strengthen social support and health based cohesion with public health services. 

Mr  Cloud said the organisations had over the years, demonstrated high social health implementation strategies while being PEPFAR sub-partners, which made them qualify to receive direct funding from PEPFAR.

He added that recipients would gain a great deal from such organisations, which would also contribute to the fabric of society by improving social protections and making the country stronger and more resilient.

Mr Cloud said while gaps still existed in terms of socio inclusion and access to health, civil societies needed to implement more ways to ensure that they could work together with public institutions in the achievement of social protection for all.

The five organisations include Stepping Stones International which received over P64m, Hope Worldwide Botswana with over P62m, Tebelopele Wellness Clinic with P66m, while Humana People to People received over P57m and Botswana Christian AIDS Interventions Programme also received funding of over P59m.

Meanwhile, National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAHPA) acting coordinator, Mr Robert Selato also thanked USAID/PEPFAR for the funding, which he said was paramount to the achievement of target health responses to AIDS.

Mr Selato also acknowledged government’s efforts at strengthening policies and resource mobilisation towards the fights against AIDS. BOPA