14 Sep 2026

Botswana’s reconfiguration of primary health care under the Ministry of Local Government and Traditional Affairs presents an opportunity to bring services closer to the people and strengthen the connection between government and communities.

This was said by the portfolio minister, Mr Ketlhalefile Motshegwa, during the 9th World Organisation of Family Doctors (WONCA) Africa Regional Conference 2026, Thursday in Gaborone.

Mr Motshegwa said primary health care functions had been repositioned to the local government ministry, following the reconfiguration of government ministries in October 2024.

The move he said, should not be viewed simply as an administrative transfer, but as an opportunity to rethink primary care and develop a model that was genuinely people-centred, community-oriented and responsive to the realities of Botswana.

“The Ministry of Local Government and Traditional Affairs, by its nature, is close to the people. We are in the streets, we are in villages, we are in communities, we are everywhere,” said Motshegwa.

He said local authorities and traditional leadership also had a critical role to play, due to their proximity to the people.

“Districts and villages are distinct and distinguished in their health problems, therefore policies and programmes should not amount to one size fits all,” he stressed.

“We need to go to the people and interact with the people, so that our policies and programmes are based on the peculiarities of the problems at hand,” he added.

Minister Motshegwa said health care did not begin at the clinic, but at home and within the community, with food, water, sanitation, education, housing, livelihoods and the environment.

For that reason, he said primary health care could not be discussed outside the context of broader public policy and the kind of state needed for development.

Mr Motshegwa said the revised National Policy on Rural Development and the Decentralisation Policy were also critical in strengthening local governance and primary health care.

Furthermore, to ensure rural development, the minister said quality infrastructure and social services, including health, were necessary, while decentralisation involved deconcentration and devolution of power from central government to local authorities.

He said primary health care must also respond to changing populations, disease patterns, technology, climate, economies and the expectations of people.

“Family physicians occupy a unique position within primary care as clinicians, leaders, researchers and system thinkers working where the individual, family, community and health system meet,” he added.

He called for collaboration, innovation, digitalisation, evidence and stronger primary health care, urging delegates to act as one.

The two-day conference, themed: We Are One: Africa United to Advance Planetary Health Through Collaboration and Resource Alignment in Primary Health Care, was aimed at uniting healthcare professionals across the African continent, to address all climate change, environmental sustainability, and human health within primary care systems.

The event was also meant to foster stronger continental partnerships and align resources to make primary health care more resilient, efficient, and accessible.

Founded in 1972, WONCA was established to improve global quality of life by promoting high standards of care in family medicine and primary healthcare. ENDS