05 Oct 2022

The Botswana Public Health Institute (BPHI) has been established to ensure the system’s ability to withstand any public health threats and preservation of Batswana’s lives.

Minister of Health, Dr Edwin Dikoloti told the inaugural meeting of the institute’s reference committee in Gaborone on Tuesday that BPHI’s formation was Botswana’s way of heeding the global call  for nations to strengthen and ensure effective scientifically-driven public health systems that could reliably produce data to inform decision-making.

BPHI was therefore a reassurance of government’s commitment towards savings lives as well as affirmation of building a knowledge-based economy, said the minister.

Dr Dikoloti said the institute signaled high level commitment and leadership towards building the necessary capacity for health security and overall health system resilience.

As a scientifically-driven unit, the institute would serve to harness and promote local public health research and development, he said.

Minister Dikoloti said it would position Botswana to participate locally, regionally and internationally through contributing to the growing scientific knowledge and evidence; and finding solutions specific to the region and communities.

“Locally the growth of BPHI will serve to promote indigenous knowledge to disease surveillance and patterns to inform building of a resilient health care system,” he said.

BPHI, he said, was strategically positioned to respond to emerging focus areas post COVID-19 pandemic which included strengthening research and development encompassing laboratory and diagnostic capacities, building regional capacity for manufacturing medicines and strengthening surveillance systems for reliable timely data.

The minister said it would serve as a coordination centre for all elements of public health threats and emergency response, integrated surveillance, research as well as leadership and governance for effective resource utilisation.

Dr Dikoloti said disease outbreaks or pandemics tested the resilience of health care system, its capacity to respond while retaining its normative functions but most importantly, its ability to learn and build back better.

He said there was therefore need to invest in health care systems that would help prepare better as per President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi’s Reset Agenda to save Batswana  from  diseases. 

For his part, BPHI acting executive director Dr Lebapotswe Tlale said national public health institutes were a critical component of global disease prevention and response systems as well as vital to harmonising and coordinating public health responses to epidemics/pandemics at continental level.

He said benefits of establishing such institutes included increased outbreak detection and emergency response efficiency by bringing essential public health functions under one umbrella. 

They also increased effectiveness by linking key components of public health functions such as surveillance, laboratory systems, emergency response, communications and public health research, he said.

Dr Tlale said core functions included disease prevention and health promotion, laboratory systems and networks, surveillance and disease intelligence. Ends