Ministry of Health launches Community Clinics on Wheels
30 Sep 2023
On collective responsibility to reach all, leaving no one behind in ending HIV as a public health threat by 2030, government has launched mobile clinics dubbed, ‘Community Clinics on Wheels’.
Speaking during the launch in Gaborone on Thursday, Minister of Health, Dr Ewin Dikoloti, hailed the ‘Community Clinics on Wheels’ as a major public health initiative and yet another milestone that would help inch Botswana closer to achieving Universal Health Coverage.
“I am excited when I envision the dividends these clinics will bring to our communities by delivering adaptive care, reaching all areas with critical integrated health services, such as mental health care, wellness and longevity, social and promotive care, as well as facilitating access to HIV care and treatment services for all,” he said.
Dr Dikoloti said to advance to the next level of the highest quality of healthcare, there was need to break out of the norm, by evolving new, exciting strategies that connected and resonated with all the populations. He therefore said having made tremendous progress in fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic by being one of the few countries to exceed the UNAIDS 2030 target of 95-95-95 ahead of time to achieve 95-98-98, the mobile clinics would hunt for the remaining 5-2-2 to make 100-100-100.
He also said the mobile clinics, just like the “Zebra on Wheels” (pitse ya naga mo maotwaneng), will reach vulnerable and often silent populations that were extremely hard to find, saying those target populations would unlikely access care at conventional health facilities despite their availability and thus may unintentionally be a catalyst for re-fuelling the epidemic and reversing historic gains.
Furthermore, he said, community ‘Clinics on Wheels’ align with an objective to demonstrate next generation primary healthcare platforms in a revolutionary era; 'an era of mindset change, an era of transformation and adopting new ways of availing healthcare services' .
Dr Dikoloti thanked the collaborative effort achieved through the United States government, saying their support and partnership was invaluable. Sharing the sentiments, the US Ambassador to Botswana, Mr Howard van Vranken, whose country funded the initiative, said ‘Community Clinics on Wheels’ was an innovation and an alternative to the traditional ways of providing healthcare by packaging healthcare services in a client-centred manner.
Mr van Vranken said the mobile clinics were going to be a game changer in Botswana’s health response, adding that 'they bring services as close as possible and at times and days that are best for clients' .
He said those clinics would provide an impressive array of services, mentioning HIV testing, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV prevention, anti-retroviral treatment, viral load testing, tuberculosis screening and prevention, gender-based violence (GBV) screening, post-violence clinical services, sexually transmitted infection screening and treatment, non-communicable disease screening and treatment, family planning, condom education and distribution.
Mr van Vranken assured Botswana of the US government’s continued support to strengthen Botswana’s healthcare system, adding that for the past 20 years, PEPFAR had partnered with Botswana in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The procured four mobile clinics will be taken to the District Health Management Teams across the country, including Gaborone, Francistown Kweneng and Ngami to provide integrated, one-stop-shop healthcare services at community and household levels. END
Source : BOPA
Author : Lesedi Thatayamodimo
Location : GABORONE
Event : LAUNCH
Date : 30 Sep 2023
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