He explained that President Mokgweetsi Masisi has since given a new target as a country; to achieve 100-100-100, adding that it was the direction they were headed to. “Botswana appreciates the honour and opportunity to participate in these case studies, which form critical steps necessary for understanding and fighting HIV/AIDS. During this Pitso, evidence and ways to identify opportunities to leverage primary health care (PHC) and HIV linkages across various contexts has been brought to the fore. This empirical evidence was drawn from four countries being Botswana, Angola, Indonesia, and Pakistan through the support of UNAIDS,” he explained.
Morwaeng further explained that Botswana recently carried out a comprehensive joint review of the Third National Strategic Framework for HIV/AIDS, commonly referred to as NSF 3. He said they assessed the progress made, challenges faced, and proposed concrete recommendations on the strategic shifts needed for the next two years and in the next NSF 4, which would take Botswana to the last mile towards 2030. He further stated that the government of Botswana funds nearly two thirds of the AIDS response in the country, adding that they were grateful to their development and technical partners for their evergreen solidarity and commitment. He added that they remained alive to the reality that, there would come a time when external assistance may not be feasible, and that they would have to shoulder the full financial and programme management responsibility. Giving the keynote address, the Minister of Health Edwin Dikoloti, said there was need for mindset change adding that they could not continue the same way if they were to get different results. He added that he was confident that the Pitso would contribute significantly to paving their path to ending AIDS in Botswana. “We therefore, need to pull together and accelerate the pace with which we are progressing these matters. We need to keep our eyes on a path to ending AIDS in our country and maintain our position as a global leader in AIDS epidemic response. Botswana is signatory to the political declaration on ending AIDS, which sets out the 95-95-95 treatment targets and 82.5% reduction in HIV infections. The target is to have fewer than 370, 000 infections by 2025, and to ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030,” he said.
