02 Jun 2022

Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership (BHP) has become a world-renowned educational institution of excellence in research and education thanks to its strong partnership with various players, among which is the Ministry of Health, its CEO Dr Joseph Makhema said Tuesday.

He was speaking at a press conference to share BHP’s milestones, the most recent of which is the listing of its Laboratory Director, Dr Sikhulile Moyo in TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world. Dr Moyo has been credited with discovering the Omicron variant of COVID-19.

Dr Makhema said BHP applauded Dr Moyo and his team for their efforts, which would go a long way in cementing the partnership as a key player in Botswana’s scientific research field.

For his part Dr Moyo said to effectively position itself as a knowledge-based economy, Botswana must put in place efficient knowledge value chains. He urged the Ministry of Education and Skills Development to invest in science and technology, which he said went beyond academic achievement, and provided opportunity to explore.

Prioritising these would allow for exploration of novel frontiers with emphasis on research and efficient knowledge management as a vital resource for national development, he said.

That would in turn ensure Botswana realised its goal of economic liberalisation and diversification.

Dr Moyo hailed Botswana for devising and implementing a number of initiatives towards achieving its goal of a knowledge-based economy.

He said, knowledge enabled him and his team to discover the Omicron variant.

“We harnessed the knowledge we got from working with mutations of other viruses such as HIV over the years, to properly assess the scale and severity of the new [COVID-19] mutations,” he said.

Thus, he said, it was important to grow knowledge in all sectors, adding that would cause Botswana to thrive in the knowledge age and concept, as well as encourage a culture of innovation.

Dr Moyo said his teams’ discovery of the mutation  was not a milestone for Botswana alone, but also Africa.

Following their discovery of the variant, BHP was recognised for its immense contribution to health, he said. Its many milestones include its pioneering work in Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT), which influenced policy on breast feeding, that saw great reduction  in infant mortality, as well as KITSO and TSHEPO studies that informed policy on starting the Infectious Disease Control Centre (IDCC) clinics.

Dr Moyo said WHO also recognised BHP for its role in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

He said as an institution of excellence in research and education BHP aimed to fight HIV/AIDS and emerging public health challenges through innovative research, education, and capacity building that could impact policy and practice.

To that end BHP had produced more than 10 Phd holders who now held various positions at the University of Botswana.

With regard to the Omicron variant, Dr Moyo said the pandemic had brought nations together as they now shared ideas, and were able to network, with institutions around the world collaborating.

“Since discovery of Omicron we have set up a surveillance programme, we are on constant watch,” he said.  

Surveillance would include providing scientific input towards fighting monkey-pox, he said. ENDS