30 Aug 2023

The ongoing 73rd WHO Regional Committee Conference for Africa will afford Botswana an opportunity to consider and adopt new resolutions for the health sector, Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane has said. 

Speaking at the AFR-RC 73 side event hosted by Botswana, titled ‘Botswana as a model of excellence in Primary Health Care’ here Tuesday, Mr Tsogwane applauded Botswana for gains made against HIV/AIDS and other emerging health issues, and for strengthened capacity in research, as attested to by its identification of the omicron virus at the height of COVID-19 pandemic. 

Mr Tsogwane said Botswana was determined to achieve universal health coverage, while addressing social and economic determinants of health, with the top priority being to shift focus from curative to preventive care through Public Health Care (PHC) initiatives. Botswana’s vision, he said, was to be a centre of excellence in control of human, plant, animal pests and diseases as well as ensuring that future pandemics were dealt with “decisively here at home.” 

Notwithstanding its achievements, the country’s PHC system still had gaps and challenges, including insufficient resources, poor emergency response to public health threats, particularly with regard to coordination, financing, and incident management systems. It was in a bid to deal with such setbacks that the government came up with a people-centric RE-SET Agenda, to drive development and governance agenda, as well as integration of health services and effective community participation. 

Speaking at the same event, health minister, Dr Edwin Dikoloti, said achieving universal health coverage and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), were inspirational targets, which Botswana strove to achieve. Dr Dikoloti said significant environmental, ecological, demographic and epidemiological changes had affected health care delivery. 

“These changes and transitions disrupted the gains made in PHC implementation and have had a profound effect on the way we plan and manage our health policy and programming, coercing health response to go beyond the confines of the health sector,” he said. 

He said his ministry had therefore taken a deliberate decision to “revitalise PHC in response to the rapid global changes and the prevailing formidable health challenges”, through, among others, digitalisation and employment of technology. 

“Government has committed to [connecting] internet in all health facilities countrywide,” he said, adding that the electronic Health Information System would also enable clients to engage directly with the community healthcare system through two-way targeted and untargeted messaging. 

“The aim is to ensure that PHC will continue to be firmly embedded as an indispensable element of public health interventions at all levels in line with 2018 Astana global conference on PHC’s reaffirmation of the Alma-Ata declaration,” he said. 

Minister Dikoloti said Botswana government was still commited to PHC and health services that were of “high quality, safe, comprehensive, integrated, accessible, available and affordable for everyone and everywhere, [and are] provided with compassion, respect and dignity by health professionals who are well-trained, skilled, motivated and committed.” 

WHO regional director Dr Matshidiso Moeti urged all sectors to align their health policies and approaches with PHC principles, saying that way, universal health coverage and resilient health sectors would be built and SDGs achieved. 

Dr Moeti recognised Botswana’s PHC approach and said the model could be pursued by countries to harmonise community health worker groups, resuscitate and strengthen existing community structures, and monitor and evaluate, as well as improve strategies at all levels of care, to aid achievement of excellence in programme and policy implementation. ends