07 Nov 2023

Batswana cannot afford to be complacent, as they have an opportunity to eliminate the HIV/AIDS pandemic, a war not yet over.

As such mindset change was needed in combating the challenge, President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi said in his State-of-the-Nation Address in Gaborone on Monday.

He said amongst the primary risk factors driving the incidence of HIV/AIDS was intergenerational sexual relations, adding that as previously reported, men in the country remained hesitant to test for HIV/AIDS.

The President said if people were not careful to avoid sexual behaviours that exposed them to HIV infection, and did not test to know their status, they would lose the hard earned gains made so far.

He said Botswana continued to do well in the fight against HIV/AIDS and had surpassed all the UNAIDS targets.

Nonetheless, a lot remained to be done to realise zero new infections and end AIDS as a public health threat by the year 2030, the President said.

He said according to the fifth Botswana AIDS Impact Survey Report launched in August, adolescent girls and young women aged 15 to 24 years were most at risk of acquiring HIV, accounting for about 25 per cent of the new HIV infections.

On mental health condition, Dr Masisi said it was neither a sign of weakness nor a choice by those afflicted by the condition, adding people with mental health conditions should be embraced as in the case of people with Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs).

He said they also needed to be protected, embraced and their needs understood and stop stigmatising them.

The President said the approval of the Mental Health Bill in August 2023 by Parliament was therefore a testament of their resolve to protect the rights of people with mental health condition and improve their treatment and services.

“Let me also encourage people with challenges of depression and anxiety to seek help from counsellors, psychologists, social workers and spiritual leaders for assistance,” he advised.

He said like other countries across the globe, Botswana had been experiencing a shortage of medicinal supplies for some time.

However, the availability of medicines, particularly, lifesaving medicines, has improved over the past months from 35 per cent in January 2023 to 65 per cent in September 2023.

The President said the challenges, however, still existed with sourcing certain classes of medicines particularly cancer drugs and eye care products, which remain lower than 50 per cent.

He said government had decided to procure these drugs through bilateral arrangements with global friends and development partners.

“The situation of drug shortage is exacerbated by the pervasive incidents of misappropriation within the health sector by certain individuals in complicity with organized criminals.

It is heart-wrenching that some of these stolen medicines are illegally exported to criminals outside the country to the detriment of the lives of fellow citizens. This is unacceptable and unbecoming. Batswana betsho, where is our patriotism,” he said.

He said to deal with the emerging issues and ensure that Botswana was better prepared for outbreaks of any epidemics and pandemic, the government had established the Botswana Public Health Institute.

The Institute is mandated to coordinate preparedness, response to and recovery from outbreaks using the One-Health approach, which recognises the interrelatedness of people, plants, animals and their environment.

Some of the Institute’s successes include the recent effective response to malaria and measles outbreaks in Botswana and the training of more than 70 emergency response personnel.

These are already helping other countries train their teams, as well as respond to disease outbreaks.

Dr Masisi said NCDs such as diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer remained a menace. He said prevention was better than cure.

“Walk 10, 000 steps a day and eat healthy. A re jeng merogo le maungo batho betsho. Botsogo ke jwa gago! Your health is your responsibility.”

President Masisi said government has prioritised access to healthcare through a revitalised primary healthcare system as a strategy to improve health outcomes.

This, he said, would ensure effective health promotion, disease prevention, early diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and compassionate services.

He said such would decongest secondary and tertiary level facilities.

Alongside this development, the current District Health Management Teams will be aligned with the District administrative boundaries by April 2024.

The President said government was in the process of optimising operational systems for the delivery of a defined essential health package, which will cover a wide spectrum of public health informed services by April 2024.

He said they will outline the types and classifications of health packages that will be delivered at different levels of health facilities.

Dr Masisi said the Sir Ketumile Masire Teaching Hospital (SKMTH) would be at the apex of optimised specialised health service delivery as a tertiary and quaternary hospital as well as premier teaching and research centre. To date, he said, the hospital was offering broad specialised radiology services, renal services, critical care, neonatal intensive care, paediatric and adult intensive care services, medical and radiation oncology services.

He said the provision of radiation oncology services had significantly improved access to life saving treatment for many Batswana who otherwise had to wait many months to get treatment from other health care providers, locally and externally, at very high cost.

Dr Masisi said SKMTH would also provide specialised services that were mostly available outside the country such as paediatric nephrology, paediatric neurology, rheumatology, endocrinology, and pulmonology.

In September, highly specialised spinal operations took place at SKMTH as a first step in the provision of complex surgical procedures, he said.

President Masisi said the eight spine operations were successfully conducted on patients in collaboration with an American company, CTL AMEDICA, which is seeking partnership with the Botswana Government to manufacture artificial spinal parts. ENDS