Since then official news channels and social media platforms went abuzz with information updates on the virus every moment of the day. COVID-19 rapid geographic morbidity and mortality across the globe led the World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to declare it a pandemic on March 11, 2020.
Little is known about the virus even in the scientific world given its 'novel' status implying that it has never occurred in the world further posing a serious threat to humanity in terms of prevention, control, treatment and overall public health intervention and management approaches. The COVID-19 pandemic has overturned and disrupted socio-economic fabrics of every society. From family, school, church, physical activity to businesses, travel and tourism industries, aviation, hospitality and manufacturing sector; worse still it poses significant emotional and mental health impact such as burnout, anxiety, stress, depression and in the long term Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) and trauma from experiencing death and dying. But how the world recovers, restructures, readjusts and rebuilds itself from the devastating effects of COVID-19 leaves much to ponder, as the pandemic lays bare glaring societal contradictions and inequalities, especially among vulnerable communities; migrant workers, the elderly, displaced populations, homeless, commercial sex workers, informal sector, victims of domestic violence, children exposed to abuse and gender-based violence, working poor, the uninsured and people of colour. This article seeks to delve into existing social inequalities, which were exacerbated by COVID-19 on Botswana’s human development sector and make suggestions on closing these glaring anomalies.
