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Private sector urged to invest in research, science and technology

Minister of Tertiary Education, Research and Technology Douglas Letsholathebe says the government is working on a private sector engagement framework to guide private sector participation in developing Botswana’s economy. Letsholathebe said this in Palapye during the National Science Week and STEM Festival 2021.

He said the importance of science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and innovation in socio-economic transformation could not be overemphasised. STEM and innovation-led economies, he said, are nested on a skilled, flexible and adaptable human resource built on resilient physical infrastructure and interactive national system of innovation.

“The private sector engagement framework intends to consider incentives that will motivate private sector investment in research, science and technology. We have brought in a new field of investment through space science, and this is another area where universities and research and technology organisations have to build capacity and explore economic activities that have for a long time remained untapped and unknown.”

MODERNISING TOURISM INDUSTRY

He further said, “Our understanding of science, technology and innovation has to sync with current economic dynamics. We have to attach scientific explanations to natural phenomena in Botswana to add value. Our universities must position themselves at a pole position to lead the country. This dimension that adds scientific explanations to the formation of unique geographical, physical features could modernise our tourism industry and cater to a broader audience.”

Letsholathebe further indicated that natural and monumental structures such as the Tropic of Capricorn, Makgadikgadi Salt Pans, the Okavango Delta are such natural and fascinating physical features that have scientific explanations could form part of modern tourism.

“As new digital technologies emerge, so too do new industries and new sources of wealth for the economy. With this time comes the need for new skills. Our nation’s economy can no longer rely on the strength of the mining sector if we are to prosper. Developed nations have, over the years, prioritised STEM education to build new jobs, create growth and drive innovation.”

To realise the much needed socio-economic transformation and continued growth, Letsholathebe indicated that it is crucial to focus on STEM and innovation awareness. “Without investment in STEM and innovation, our country could drop much more into technologically-lagging nations.”

PROMOTING STEM

The government is working to provide a conducive legislative policy environment to promote STEM and innovation awareness. According to the Minister, Government has partnered with the UN Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UNCTAD) to review the RSTI Policy of 2011.

“This has come at the realisation that although the policy is almost ten years old, a lot still has to be done to adapt Science, Technology and Innovation to local socio-economic conditions. “One of the ways that Botswana can reap the full benefits of STEM is through strengthening research. Funds have been set aside to support research projects in our key research institutions.”

BIUST LAUNCHES DRONES

Recently, BIUST, along with the Ministry of Health and Wellness, the United Nations Population Fund and AVY of the Netherlands, launched the Drones for Health pilot project to improve the turnaround time that medical supplies reach health facilities across the country.

BIUST Vice-Chancellor Professor Otlogetswe Totolo said that in Botswana, there is a concern with the length of time it takes medical supplies to reach health facilities from where they are stores. This has resulted in the deterioration of health conditions that could have been attended to earlier.

“The drone technology, for most my age, was unthinkable as we were growing up. It is a whole new world, one far removed from one that we grew up in. This is all a result of STEM and innovation. As a country, we need to be in it if we intended to be meaningful players in the global economy.”

The 2021 STEM Festival was held under the theme “Fueling Socio-Economic Transformation through STEM and Innovation”. Professor Totolo stressed that it espouses a future led by innovation, adding that today’s world views STEM education as a critical driver to the socio-economic success and sustainability of the future.

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ENVIRONMENT ISSUES: Masisi asks Virginia for help

24th March 2023

President Mokgweetsi Masisi says the issue of sustainable natural resources management has always been an important part of Botswana’s national development agenda.

Masisi was speaking this week on the occasion of a public lecture at Virginia Polytechnic, under theme, “Merging Conservation, Democracy and Sustainable Development in Botswana.”

Botswana, according to Masisi, holds the view that the environment is fragile and as such, must be managed and given the utmost protection to enable the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“It is necessary that we engage one another in the interchange of ideas, perspectives, visualizations of social futures, and considerations of possible strategies and courses of action for sustainable development,” said Masisi.

On the other hand, dialogue, in the form of rigorous democratic discourse among stakeholders presents another basis for reconfiguring how people act on their environments, with a view to conserving its resources that “we require to meet our socio-economic development needs on a sustainable basis,” Masisi told attendees at the public lecture.

He said government has a keen interest in understanding the epidemiology and ecology of diseases of both domestic and wild animals. “It is our national interest to forestall the dire consequences of animal diseases on our communities livelihoods.”

President Masisi hoped that both Botswana and Virginia could help each other in curbing contagious diseases of wildlife.

“We believe that Virginia Tech can reasonably share their experiences, research insights and advances in veterinary sciences and medicines, to help us build capacity for knowledge creation and improve efforts of managing and containing contagious diseases of wildlife. The ground is fertile for entering into such a mutually beneficial partnership.”

When explaining environmental issues further, Masisi said efforts of conservation and sustainable development might at times be hampered by the emergence and recurrence of diseases when pathogens mutate and take host of more than one species.

“Water pollution also kills aquatic life, such as fish, which is one of humanity’s much deserved sources of food. In this regard, One Health Approach imposes ecological responsibility upon all of us to care for the environment and the bio-diversity therein.”

He said the production and use of animal vaccines is an important space and tool for conservation, particularly to deal with trans-border animal diseases.

“In Botswana, our 43-year-old national premier pharmaceutical institution called Botswana Vaccine Institute has played its role well. Through its successful production of highly efficacious Foot and Mouth vaccines, the country is able to contain this disease as well as supply vaccines to other countries in the sub-region.:

He has however declared that there is need for more help, saying “We need more capacitation to deal with and contain other types of microbial that affect both animals and human health.”

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Masisi saddened by deaths of elephant attacks

24th March 2023

President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed a strong worry over elephants killing people in Botswana. When speaking in Virginia this week, Masisi said it is unfortunate that Batswana have paid a price with their own blood through being attacked by elephants.

“Communities also suffer unimaginable economic losses yearly when their crops are eaten by the elephants. In spite of such incidents of human-elephant conflict, our people embrace living together with the animals. They fully understand wildlife conservation and its economic benefits in tourism.”

In 2018, Nthobogang Samokwase’s father was attacked by an elephant when travelling from the fields, where he stayed during the cropping season.

It was reported that the man couldn’t run because of his age. He was found trampled by the elephant and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.

In the same year, in Maun, a 57-year-old British woman was attacked by an elephant at Boro and died upon arrival at the hospital. The woman was with her Motswana partner, and were walking dogs in the evening.

Last month, a Durban woman named Carly Marshall survived an elephant attack while on holiday in the bush in Botswana. She was stabbed by one of the elephant’s tucks through the chest and was left with bruises. Marshall also suffered several fractured ribs from the ordeal.

President Masisi Botswana has the largest population of African elephants in the world, totaling more than 130 000. “This has been possible due to progressive conservation policies, partnerships with the communities, and investment in wildlife management programmes.”

In order to benefit further from wildlife, Masisi indicated that government has re-introduced controlled hunting in 2019 after a four-year pause. “The re-introduction of hunting was done in an open, transparent and democratic way, giving the communities an opportunity to air their views. The funds from the sale of hunting quota goes towards community development and elephant conservation.”

He stressed that for conservation to succeed, the local people must be involved and derive benefits from the natural resources within their localities.

“There must be open and transparent consultations which involve all sectors of the society. It is against this backdrop that as a country, we lead the continent on merging conservation, democracy and sustainable development.”

Masisi stated that Botswana is open to collaborative opportunities, “particularly with identifiable partners such as Virginia Tech, in other essential areas such as conservation, and the study of the interplay among the ecology of diseases of wild animals and plants, and their effects on human health and socio-economic development.”

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Gov’t commit to injecting more funds in fighting HIV

24th March 2023

Minister for State President Kabo Morwaeng says government will continue to make resources available in terms of financial allocations and human capital to ensure that Botswana achieves the ideal of eradicating HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

Morwaeng was speaking this morning in Gaborone at the High-Level Advocacy event to accelerate HIV Prevention in Botswana. He said the National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAPHA), in partnership with UNAIDS, UN agencies, the Global Fund and PEPFAR, have started a process of developing transition readiness plan for sustainability of HIV prevention and treatment programmes.

“It is important for us, as a country that has had a fair share of donor support in the response to an epidemic such as HIV and AIDS, to look beyond the period when the level of assistance would have reduced, or ceased, thus calling for domestic financing for all areas which were on donor support.”

Morwaeng said this is important as the such a plan will guarantee that all the gains accrued from the response with donor support will be sustained until the end when “we reach the elimination of HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 20230,” he said.

“I commit to continue support efforts towards strengthened HIV prevention, accentuating HIV primary prevention and treatment as prevention towards Zero New Infections, Zero Stigma, Discrimination and Zero AIDS related death, to end AIDS in Botswana.”

He reiterated that government commits to tackle legislative, policy and programming challenges that act as barriers to the achievement of the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat.

In the financial year 2022/2023, a total of 119 Civil Society Organizations, including Faith Based Organizations, were contracted with an amount of P100 million to implement HIV and NCDs prevention activities throughout the country, and the money was drawn from the Consolidated Fund.

Through an upcoming HIV Prevention Symposium, technical stakeholders will use outcomes to develop the Botswana HIV Prevention Acceleration Road Map for 2023-2025.

Morwaeng stated that government will support and ensure that Botswana plays its part achieving the road map. He said there is need to put hands on the deck to ensure that Botswana sustains progress made so far in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

“There are tremendous achievements thus far to, reach and surpass the UNAIDS fast track targets of 95%- 95%- 95% by the year 2025. As reflected by the BAIS preliminary results of 2021, we now stand at 95- 98- 98 against the set targets.”

“These achievements challenge us to now shift our gears and strive to know who are the remaining 5% for those aware of their HIV status, 2% of enrolment on treatment by those aware of their status and 2% of viral suppression by those on treatment.”

Explaining this further, Morwaeng said shift in gears should extend to coming up with robust strategies of determining where these remaining people are as well as how they will be reached with the necessary services.

“These are just some of the many variables that are required to ensure that as a country, we are well positioned to reaching the last mile of our country’s response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.”

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