27 Aug 2025

Botswana’s recent medicine shortages are primarily attributed to economic challenges and inefficiencies of the medicines procurement and distribution systems rather than the alleged cholera outbreak.

In an interview, Ministry of Health’s chief public relations officer, Dr Christopher Nyanga said President Advocate Duma’s declaration of a State of Public Health Emergency had nothing to do cholera outbreaks as alleged by some international media outlets.

He confirmed that there was not a single cholera case in Botswana, highlighting that the country had successfully avoided cholera outbreaks through effective preventive measures.

He said the last time the country recorded a few cases of cholera was more than 15 years ago and were imported cases, which the health system was able to detect and contain.

He noted that while the region had been facing significant cholera cases, Botswana’s focus on water sanitation and border surveillance had kept it cholera-free for many years.

“Although we do experience diarrhoea seasons as do other countries with similar climate and socio-economic conditions, we are currently not experiencing any outbreak nor any abnormal increase in cases. Our diarrhoea season, which is normally around September and October has not even started,” he said.

Dr Nyanga further reassured both the national and the international community that efforts to stabilise the health crisis were underway and should yield improvements in the availability of essential medicines in the near future.

He said government was working round the clock to mobilise resources to address severe disruption of medical supplies countrywide.

Already, the first consignment of emergency medical supplies from the Central Medical Stores had been dispatched to far flung areas. ENDS