US reaffirms committment to Botswana

GREG KELEBONYE
Staff Writer | Friday July 15, 2011 00:00

The American Ambassador Michelle Gavin said this yesterday, while answering a question from the press and added that over the years the governments of Botswana and the USA had forged strong relations in many areas and will continue to do so for the greater benefit of their people 'Research [through BOTUSA] will continue for a long time. That is our commitment to the people of Botswana. The partnership will deepen and broaden as we venture into other areas of research,' she said.

However Ambassador Gavin said that, 'it would not be honest to say this wont stop at any time.'BOTUSA was first set up in 1985 as a TB partnership between the Botswana and United States governments, hence the acronym.

However as HIV became a major problem in Botswana the organisation also added the aspect of HIV prevention and treatment and has over the years provided training, technical assistance, and research and supported monitoring and evaluation of prevention, care, and treatment programmes for HIV/AIDS and TB.

So far Botswana has received more than US$300 million to scale up successful programmes in HIV/AIDS prevention, care, treatment, and capacity building activities. BOTUSA is leading this effort for the US government.

Lately there have been concerns that the Americans may close shop, especially in view of the fact many donors have fled Botswana after its classification as a middle-income country. Three years back the US government relocated USAID offices to South Africa, resulting in the retrenchment of 200 staff members. However USAID continued to service Botswana from South Africa and has lately had a much bigger presence in Botswana and raised hope that it will set up again at the previous scale or better.