CDC Global HIV/AIDS Activities - Botswana
HIV/AIDS in Botswana
Botswana is experiencing one of the most severe HIV/AIDS epidemics in the world and for several years now, the Government of Botswana has been at the forefront of the response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. Treatment, biomedical prevention and testing programs pioneered here have served as examples for other developing nations, and the Government of Botswana has demonstrated a strong political commitment to a comprehensive plan of action.
CDC HIV/AIDS Activities in Botswana
Prevention:
- Supporting development of the "Skills for Life: Botswana's Window of Hope" curriculum materials, which help teachers discuss life issues important to Batswana youth. Five sets of teacher guides and student workbooks have been developed to deliver age-appropriate messages for students ranging from primary to secondary school.
- Supporting Makgabaneng, a radio drama program that promotes behavior change by modeling behavior change, its barriers, and facilitators through realistic characters and by reinforcing such change through discussion and education at the community level.
Care and Treatment:
- Training of public health care workers nationwide through the Ministry of Health's Palliative Care Unit and supporting development of training modules.
- Supporting a wide range of TB/HIV activities, including the national Isoniazid Prevention Program (IPT) program which helps prevent TB in those infected with HIV.
- Initiating voluntary counseling and testing (VCT) services since 2000 through the Tebelopele program, which is now an independent NGO with a network of 16 centers, 11 satellites, and four mobile caravans located throughout the country. BOTUSA (CDC Botswana) continues to support Tebelopele in providing free, anonymous and confidential VCT with same day results to an estimated 110,000 annual clients, as well as in conducting social marketing activities and community mobilization to increase the demand for VCT.
- Providing support to the Government of Botswana's "Masa" (New Dawn) antiretroviral (ARV) treatment program, purchasing ARVs, giving technical assistance to the national central medical stores, developing and updating national treatment guidelines, supporting a national training program, and supporting the implementation of ART in rural clinics.
- Strengthening the laboratory infrastructure in Botswana by working with the Ministry of Health to increase laboratory space and implement a national laboratory quality assurance system and a monitoring and evaluation system.
- Working with Government of Botswana to implement Early Infant HIV Diagnosis (EID), a program that has proven the success of PMTCT by showing less than 7 percent of infants tested are infected with HIV. BOTUSA (CDC Botswana) has supported laboratory staff and the procurement of equipment and blood collection supplies to allow full national scale-up, as well as helping train health workers in facilities across the country.
Laboratory, Strategic Information, and Other Capacity Building:
- Strengthening laboratory infrastructure in Botswana by working with the Ministry of Health (MOH) to ensure that laboratories have increased space, improved techniques and quality assurance, well-maintained laboratory equipment, a continuous supply of reagents, and an improved standard of practice among laboratory staff.
Last modified: December 31, 2008
Last reviewed: December 31, 2008
Content Source:
Global AIDS Program (GAP)
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Last reviewed: December 31, 2008
Content Source:
Global AIDS Program (GAP)
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention