CDC in Botswana

Overview

CDC established an office in Botswana in 1995. CDC Botswana works closely with the Botswana Ministry of Health (MOH) and partner organizations to address the following public health issues:

• HIV
• TB
• Emerging public health threats
• Emergency response
• Health systems strengthening

HIV and TB

Strategic focus

As a key implementer of PEPFAR, CDC partners with the MOH to build a robust national HIV response. CDC efforts include:

• Targeting HIV testing, treatment, and prevention interventions to populations at highest risk, especially among young adults
• Supporting quality laboratory testing for the diagnosis and treatment of people living with HIV and TB, and population level surveys for HIV
• Linking and retention to HIV antiretroviral treatment services
• Voluntary medical male circumcision programs
• Prevention of mother-to-child transmission
• TB prevention and control programs
• Expanding research capacity through training and technical assistance at the national and districts

Key achievements

• Expanded recency testing to over 200 sites to provide essential information on HIV diagnoses, infections, and ongoing transmission.
• Extended the Clinical Mentorship Program to all health districts in the country to build on workforce capacity.
• Achieved over 97% viral load suppression among HIV patients on antiretroviral treatment.
• Implemented the Botswana AIDS Impact Survey (BAIS V).

Global health security

Strategic focus

CDC's global health security work in Botswana focuses on strengthening the country's public health systems across the following core areas:

Surveillance systems

Botswana has made significant progress adopting the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response guidelines to facilitate surveillance and timely response to disease outbreaks.

Laboratory systems

CDC works with the MOH to build laboratory capacity to:

• Improve availability and access to laboratory services that testing for advanced diseases and opportunistic infections.
• Implement international laboratory standards for continuous quality improvement and establish routine surveillance and response to public health emergencies.
• Improve the availability, quality, and use of laboratory data for evidence-based planning and decision making.
• Foster collaboration between human, animal, and environmental health laboratories for a One Health approach.
• Introduce new diagnostic methods and technologies.

Public health institutes

CDC is working closely with the Botswana MOH and the International Association of Public Health Institutes to establish the Botswana Public Health Institute.

Workforce development

CDC supports training scientists through the Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP). This program strengthens Botswana's workforce capacity to sustain and control the HIV epidemic, and identify and stop outbreaks of other diseases before they spread. The program consists of the Frontline level, and a new Intermediate level established in 2023.

Emergency response

During the COVID-19 pandemic, CDC supported response coordination, surveillance, diagnostic capacity, quarantine management, case investigation, infection prevention and control, and risk communication activities.

Key achievements

• Helped establish the Botswana Public Health Laboratory and Botswana National Quality Assurance laboratories.
• Introduced new technologies leading to increased efficiencies in diagnosis of TB and other opportunistic infections.
• Worked with partners to adopt the WHO Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response technical guidelines.
• Supported the COVID-19 Intra Action Review leading to system improvements across most areas of the response.
• Supported training for 200 public health professionals who graduated from the Field Epidemiology Training Program.

Other activities

CDC works with MOH and partners to design and implement the Youth Risk Behavior and Biological Survey, and the Violence Against Children Survey.

Publications

Related links