14 May 2023

Cold chain equipment donated by Japan will assist the country to be more prepared for future pandemics than was the case when COVID-19 broke out.

 The equipment include five ultra-low temperature freezers, one walk-in freezer, four walk-in cold rooms, 210 fridges, 300 temperature monitoring devices and data-loggers and five remote temperature monitoring devices.

Receiving the gifts on Friday, Minister of Health, Dr Edwin Dikoloti said the donation came when the ministry was focusing on revitalising the primary healthcare system.

He said the ultra-low temperature freezers would reinforce routine immunisation programmes to protect children against diseases as well as ensuring that the health system was robust enough in the event of future health crises. For his part, Japan Ambassador, Mr Ohmori Setsuo said the donation followed the signing of a grant amounting to about P8 million aimed at strengthening the country's vaccine cold chain system.

He said he was pleased that they were playing their role in the partnership between Botswana and UNICEF. 

He added that it was vital for the relations to be further enhanced in order to continue contributing to the health of Batswana.

Dr Joan Matji of UNICEF noted that the cold chain equipment  would ease servicing of hard-to-reach settlements.

He said UNICEF was grateful that Japan had invested in the equipment and capacity building of health workers in the primary healthcare system in the hard-to-reach areas.

Dr Matji also said the donation would help the country to build a more resilient healthcare system that would sustain the gains made from the COVID-19 response and help the country be prepared for future. ends