AFRO-NETS> Botswana Lauded in Washington as Model in HIV/AIDS War

[Dr Rana Jawad Asghar <jawad@alumni.washington.edu>]

Botswana Lauded in Washington as Model in HIV/AIDS War
------------------------------------------------------
 
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
 
By Caroline Preston
U.N. Wire
http://www.unwire.org/UNWire/20031112/449_10349.asp
 
WASHINGTON - Members of the U.S. Senate today lauded Botswana and 
its president, Festus Mogae, for his response to the HIV/AIDS 
epidemic. Botswana is among the 12 African countries targeted by 
U.S. President George W. Bush's $15 billion pledge to fight 
HIV/AIDS globally and, despite being one of the most economically 
secure African nations, has one of the highest AIDS rates - 38 
percent of the 1.8 million population was estimated to be HIV-
positive in 2002.
 
But Botswana's leadership has also taken some of the most "bold, 
courageous steps to confront HIV/AIDS," according to Senate Ma-
jority Leader Bill Frist, who spoke today as co-chair of the Cen-
ter for Strategic and International Studies HIV/AIDS Task Force.
 
In 2000, Mogae brought HIV/AIDS to the forefront of his govern-
ment's policies, declaring the disease a national emergency and 
later getting tested himself for HIV on national television. 
Through partnerships with nongovernmental groups, research insti-
tutions and drug companies, Mogae developed a multisectoral re-
sponse campaign to encourage safe sex, AIDS awareness and educa-
tion, as well as to improve testing and treatment efforts.
 
Today, the government provides free condoms in all health facili-
ties, workplaces and other locations throughout the country, 
Mogae told the gathering of government, private sector and non-
governmental representatives, and the country recently launched 
an initiative providing female condoms in government facilities. 
It is also one of four African countries partnered with the Bill 
and Melinda Gates Foundation to promote adolescent sexual and re-
productive health, and has set the ambitious goal of an AIDS-free 
generation by 2016.
 
Other accomplishments include the launch in 1999 of a program to 
eliminate mother-to-child transmission of the disease, and the 
expansion of testing programs and the encouragement of testing by 
all individuals. Currently, testing reaches 60 percent of the 
population.
 
Botswana has also rolled out a program, in cooperation with the 
Gates Foundation and the Merck pharmaceutical company, to provide 
free antiretroviral drugs to all people in need. Over 9,000 indi-
viduals currently receive ARVs through government programs, and 
another 5,800 through private health programs.
 
Because of the accessibility of antiretroviral drugs, "many peo-
ple who were on their death bed are now on their feet," Mogae 
said.
 
But both Mogae and Frist emphasized that the implementation of 
some programs has been slower than hoped, largely due to inade-
quate infrastructure, particularly human resources. Mogae warned 
that the number of trained staff has been dwindling, due to both 
low pay and to deaths from AIDS, and that a more successful sys-
tem of recruitment needs to be developed.
 
Frist, who has argued the lack of infrastructure and "absorptive 
capacity" in some African countries led to the approval by the 
U.S. Congress of nearly $1 billion less in AIDS funding asked for 
by President Bush, said that "perhaps the single greatest chal-
lenge in meeting the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Africa is ... the chal-
lenge to make sure there is a sufficient infrastructure through 
which both prevention, care and treatment can be delivered."
 
"To test, you can't simply just have kits on the shelves, you 
have to have a system of voluntary counseling testing together... 
to treat with drugs, you need a system to store those drugs," he 
added.
 
--
Dr Rana Jawad Asghar
Program Manager Child Survival, Mozambique
Provincial Coordinator Sofala Province, Mozambique
Health Alliance International, Seattle, WA, USA
http://depts.washington.edu/haiuw/
Coordinator South Asian Public Health Forum 
http://www.saphf.org
mailto:jawad@alumni.washington.edu
http://www.DrJawad.com

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