WASTED MILLIONS
The government of Botswana spends more than P600 million every year on Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) medications.
But sadly, some unknown people get the medication free of charge from public health facilities only to throw it away.
This past Tuesday, a concerned community member shared pictures on social media of how she has been observing with disgust the tendency of some people who continuously dump the pills near her homestead in Tsolamose, Mogoditshane.
She complained that such behaviour was posing serious threat to children who might pick and swallow the pills as well as wasting government funds because millions of Pulas are being invested in the fight against HIV/AIDS in the country.
According to Ministry of Health Spokesperson Dr Christopher Nyanga who spoke to this publication in a previous interview, in terms of numbers, HIV/AIDS was among diseases that affects more people in Botswana than any other infectious or non-communicable disease.
HIV, he said, affects hundreds of thousands of people, with cases estimated at around 370 000. And more than 90% of these people are on Antiretroviral Therapy (ARTs).
Nyanga said they spend a lot of money on ART medications because the Botswana Government has adopted the treat all policy where all people who test positive for HIV are immediately enrolled into the ART programme.
He shared that they have been hard at work regarding HIV infections, noting that the ministry has been doing all it can to teach the public about the importance of keeping safe from HIV despite the availability of ARTs.
The presence of ARTs does not mean that people should engage in unsafe sexual intercourse, he said. The ministry has robust public education programmes that encourage people to engage in safe sex practices.
And evidently as proof to the tremendous job the local health sector has been doing, Botswana was given a pat on the shoulder by WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for lowering HIV transmission to under one percent. Ghebreyesu was speaking at the ongoing 73rd session of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Committee for Africa meeting that the country is hosting.