Global HIV/AIDS

Botswana

HIV/AIDS in Botswana

21.9% Prevalence Among Adults
15-49 Years (2013)
5,800 Estimated AIDS Deaths (2013)
96,000 Estimated Orphans (2013)
201,822 Number of Adults Receiving
Antiretroviral Treatment (ART) (2012)
>95% Estimated ART Coverage
Based on WHO 2010 Guidelines (2012)

SOURCE:
UNAIDS Gap Report, 2014; UNAIDS Global Report, 2013

Strategic Focus

The partnership between CDC and the Government of Botswana began in 1995, with the goal of strengthening tuberculosis (TB) prevention and control. It has since flourished to include HIV prevention, care, and treatment, with a focus on strategic program development to maximize the quality, coverage, and impact of Botswana’s national response to the HIV epidemic. Over the past 10 years, CDC’s global HIV/AIDS focus has transitioned from an emergency response approach to one of sustainability and shared responsibility. The Botswana program is moving towards a technical assistance model, while continuing to invest in evidence-based, high-impact interventions.

Optimizing the combination prevention approach (antiretroviral therapy, prevention of mother-to-child transmission, condoms, and voluntary medical male circumcision) to HIV prevention is one of PEPFAR’s core activities to maximize epidemic impact. In 2013, CDC launched a four-year study called the Botswana Combination Prevention Project (BCPP) in partnership with the Ministry of Health and the Harvard School of Public Health. The overall goal of the study is to evaluate whether coordinated and strengthened HIV biomedical interventions will significantly reduce new HIV infections at the community level and whether this reduction will be cost-effective.

Building on the success of Botswana’s prevention of mother-to-child transmission program, another focus area is providing technical and direct assistance to the newly adopted Option B+ program to prevent infant infections, save mothers’ lives, and reduce the number of orphans in Botswana. CDC also provides assistance to improve epidemiology, surveillance, laboratory operations, research, and workforce capacity.

Success Stories

Early Infant Male Circumcision: A Giant Leap toward an HIV-Free Generation in Botswana

Key Activities and Accomplishments

Prevention of mother-to-child transmission coverage in Botswana has reached 97.5 percent.

Botswana is one of only a few countries where the HIV epidemic has passed the “tipping point” – the point where for every one new person on treatment, there is less than one person newly infected.

Nearly half of all 15-49 year-olds have been tested for HIV within the last 12 months and know their status (Botswana AIDS Indicator Survey, 2013).

Between April 2013 and April 2014, Botswana’s Safe Male Circumcision program recorded 46,315 circumcisions, about 90% of its annual target and 10,000 more than the previous year.