On World AIDS Day (1 December ), we have the opportunity to reflect on our progress in the response to HIV/AIDS and to re-focus our efforts. This means focusing on the highest impact interventions, bringing them to scale in key geographic areas and among the most vulnerable populations, and maintaining a sense of urgency to get ahead of the epidemic. This is why my government’s official theme for World AIDS Day 2014 is Focus, Partner, Achieve: An AIDS-free Generation. The theme captures the core elements of what is needed to reach this goal.
To date, with the generous support of the American people through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the U.S. government has committed more than $700 million, or nearly P6 billion pula, to support Botswana’s HIV/AIDS response. Working in partnership with the Government of Botswana, we have come a long way over the last decade: New HIV infections in Botswana have dropped 71 percent since 2001; Mother-to-child transmission rate has dropped from a peak of around 40 percent to nearly 2 percent; There has been a slow but steady increase in the number of men accessing Safe Male Circumcision as an HIV prevention method; and,
