Botswana News

The Minister of Health and Wellness, Honourable Dorcas Makgato delivered the first of a series of lectures on Health and Development at the University of Botswana Conference Centre. Fittingly, the inaugural lecture was on the importance of inter-sectoral action on the social determinants of health. Honourable Makgato intimated that her Ministry will work with other sectors to identify and address their impact on health to enable them accentuate the positives and mitigate the negatives.

Botswana has successfully launched the introduction of the Measles Rubella vaccine introduction and Supplementary Immunization Activity (SIA) in the capital city Gaborone on Monday July 25th 2016 at a ground breaking ceremony.

The consultation which was co-convened by the Governments of Botswana and Sweden with WHO and UNICEF, brought together 50 high level participants including Ministers of Health, members of the high-level Panel of Eminent Persons, Leaders of International health institutions, representatives of civil society and the private sector, academia, public health experts and youth. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the place of health in the post 2015 development agenda.

The meeting agreed on three broad conclusions;

On the 23rd of July, 2010 the Ministry of Health and her partners launched mass distribution of Long Lasting Insecticide Nets (LLINs) in Gweta and Tsokotshaaa villages in the Tutume sub-district, one of the high malaria transmission areas. The activity was officially launched by the Minister of Health, Dr. John Seakgosing, who encouraged the public to exercise maximum co-operation with the government in the effort to eliminate malaria in Botswana by 2015.

Gaborone, Botswana, 5 March 2013 -- His Excellency the President Lt. General Seretse Khama Ian Khama officially opened the High Level Dialogue on the MDG Post-2015 Health Agenda on 5th September 2013 at the Gaborone International Conference and Convention Centre.

Commemoration of the African Vaccination Week and Child Health Days, Botswana

This year’s AVW focus in Botswana was to reduce the number of un-immunised children through reinforcing routine immunization.

To Commemorate African Vaccination Week and Child Health Days, additional support was provided to selected low performing districts during the period April 22- May 31, 2013. The districts selected were Gaborone, Kanye/Moshupa, Goodhope, Mahalapye and Okavango.

5 August 2009 -- The World Health Organization Regional Director for Africa Dr Luis Gomes Sambo was in Gaborone, Botswana on an official visit to the Champions for HIV-Free Generation.

The aim of the visit was to further strengthen collaboration between the two organizations towards the acceleration of HIV prevention in the African region.

Dr Sambo held discussions with the Chairperson of the Champions for an HIV-Free Generation and former President of Botswana, His Excellency Festus Gontebanye Mogae.

On the 13th September, 2010 Government of Botswana through Ministry of Health with the support from WHO and other partners launched the malaria elimination campaign to mark the beginning of intensified efforts by Botswana to kick out malaria within its borders. The launch brought together policy makers, decision makers, the private sector and other stakeholders to highlight that malaria elimination will be everyone’s

Kasane, 31 May 2009 -- In the long standing tradition of taking the commemoration to people, this year the commemoration was in the tourist town of Kasane in the extreme North west part of the country.

The theme was Tobacco: Health Warnings! It is a theme that resonates well with a lot of initiatives of various government institutions including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Local Government, the Botswana Police service who all made presentations and exhibited at the event.

Francistown, Botswana, 15 September 2016 - The Ministry of Health in Botswana and the World Health Organization convened a three day meeting, for over 100 health sector stakeholders, including Ministry of Health (MoH) top officials, District Health Management Teams (DHMTs), partners, academia and researchers, to assess progress made in the implementation of set targets for Botswana’s malaria elimination efforts.