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The public health sector is gradually recovering from severe medicine shortages that led to the declaration of a state of public health emergency in August 2025 by President Advocate Duma Gideon Boko.

The Ministry of Health’s Public Relations Officer, Mr Mompoloki Lekoto, said sustained local and international procurement efforts have resulted in frequent deliveries, significantly improving medicine availability across public health facilities, although full stabilisation had not yet been achieved.

Mr Lekoto said current, stocks covered a broad range of medicines required for both acute and chronic care.

“These include intravenous fluids, anti-diarrhoeal medicines, antibiotics, anaesthetic agents for surgical theatres, antihypertensives, anti-diabetic medicines, dialysis supplies for kidney disease, as well as cancer and blood disorder treatments and other biological products,” he said.

He added that laboratory reagents, imaging supplies and diagnostic tests were also being prioritised to ensure comprehensive patient care. Mr Lekoto noted that while shortages affected most medicine categories in recent months, availability had improved significantly due to donations and emergency procurements.

“Cancer and blood disorder medicines have been secured through large orders expected to last more than 12 months,” he said, adding that suture supplies had also been restored following the delivery of six months’ stock.

Mr Lekoto said the ministry continued to rely on targeted micro-procurement for products that remained unstable or required special ordering.

Meanwhile, medicine distribution remains nationwide, with all districts and health facilities receiving deliveries twice a month. He explained that the system allowed for regular replenishment, although special-order products may take longer to reach facilities.

Mr Lekoto said Central Medical Stores continued to manage a wide range of therapeutic products that required constant monitoring and routine restocking to maintain optimal levels.

In some cases, he said temporary rationing across districts was implemented while awaiting larger consignments, with procurement focused on life-saving and essential medicines.

He identified financial constraints as the primary driver of the recent shortages, which limited procurement quantities, adding that rising costs of medical products at local and regional levels further compounded the challenge.

Mr Lekoto assured patients that continued improvement in medicine availability was expected over the next one to two months as additional consignments arrived.

He said where specific medicines remained unavailable, healthcare providers were using therapeutically interchangeable alternatives and redistributing surplus stock within the ministry’s system.

“Clinicians are providing tailored guidance to patients with chronic conditions, including access to special-order mechanisms when necessary,” he said.

Looking ahead, Mr Lekoto said government was pursuing long-term strategies to strengthen medicine supply security.

“These include exploring pooled procurement arrangements at regional and international levels, government-to-government supply agreements, re-engagement with local suppliers and legislative reforms to ensure transparent procurement and prevent price gouging,” he said.

He added that plans were also underway to facilitate primary pharmaceutical manufacturing within the country.

Furthermore, Mr Lekoto said the transformation of Central Medical Stores under the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme was expected to enhance capacity, governance and efficiency through digitalisation and end-to-end supply chain visibility.

He said the ministry anticipated adopting advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, alongside broader reforms such as the rollout of National Health Insurance.

Regional collaboration through SADC pooled procurement initiatives and regulatory harmonisation under the ZAZIBONA framework is also expected to improve pricing and availability, particularly given Botswana’s relatively small population.

The Ministry of Health has expressed confidence that the comprehensive measures being implemented will result in a sustainable and efficient medicine supply system that delivers value for money and reliable access to essential healthcare for all Batswana

In the quiet corners of Botswana’s towns and villages, children of all ages constantly find themselves out in the cold. 

Some are found thrown by the roadsides, others in the bushes, while yet others grow up in homes where neglect has slowly done its damage, out of sight until it is too late.

What was once an occasional shock has become a pattern. Child abandonment, particularly of newborns is emerging as a silent crisis, revealing the fragile intersections between youth behaviour, weakened family structures and the absence of preventative support within communities.

Tshidilo Stimulation Centre manager, Mr Ramoremi Mphothwe says these stories rarely begin with abandonment, rather they begin much earlier in moments where guidance is absent and risk is normalised.

Alcohol-fuelled social spaces, he explains, often lead to unprotected sexual encounters and unintended pregnancies and when reality sets in, young women are left isolated, overwhelmed and afraid.

“Child abandonment is not a sudden decision but a final step after many opportunities to intervene have already been missed,” he says.

Those missed opportunities surface daily at the Maun Police Station. Behind the front desk, the crisis does not announce itself dramatically, it arrives quietly case by case, file by file. Between 2024 and 2025, police in Maun recorded 44 cases of child neglect, involving children as young as newborns and as old as 15.

Many of those cases are still unresolved, not because they are unimportant but because the systems meant to protect children often move slower than expected.

Thirty of the cases remain stalled, awaiting social inquiry reports and others sit under investigation, complicated by silence from those who report them but cannot or will not help police trace those responsible.

Maun Station Commander, Superintendent Joseph Lepodise says repeated offenders remain one of the most troubling aspects of the trend, pointing to cycles of neglect that continue long after the first warning signs are visible.

During this period in 2025, two newborns were abandoned in circumstances that officers still recall vividly, with one having been thrown into the bush and another who was left beside the road, wrapped in plastic.

In both cases, police responded immediately, rushing the infants to Letsholathebe II Memorial Hospital, a race against time to ensure that life continued where it had nearly been discarded.

Despite investigations that included tracing mothers who had recently given birth at surrounding clinics, no arrests were made. Responsibility for the children shifted instead to social workers, who placed them in safety while the search for accountability faded into uncertainty.

For Superintendent Lepodise, these outcomes are painful reminders that law enforcement often arrives at the end of the story, not at the beginning. Police, he says, continue to prioritise public education, urging parents and young girls to use available forms of pregnancy prevention and to seek help when overwhelmed.

Clinics, social workers, and police stations remain open doors; safer than the irreversible choice of abandonment, he stresses. The long-term impact of those choices becomes visible at care facilities like Lorato House.

Case manager at Lorato House, Ms Omphile Itomeng says children entering the facility often arrive after prolonged neglect or abandonment

Many carry physical signs of deprivation – malnutrition, delayed development, untreated medical conditions, weakened immunity and others carry wounds that cannot be weighed or measured.

“These children struggle to trust, and to feel safe,” she says.

Lorato House communications and media relations lead, Ms Agatha Elijah says as they grow older, the questions become harder to avoid and curiosity about home and belonging emerges naturally.

Counsellors respond by building stability first following routine, consistency, and nurturing relationships before attempting to help children process the circumstances of their abandonment.

Beyond its emotional and social cost, child abandonment in Botswana remains a criminal offence as the law prohibits neglect, ill-treatment, or exposure of a child to conditions likely to cause physical, psychological, or emotional harm

Penalties include fines or imprisonment, reinforcing the state’s position that abandonment is both morally indefensible and legally punishable. Yet those working closest to the issue agree that punishment alone will never be enough.

Prevention through education, early intervention, honest conversations about alcohol abuse and sexual health remains the strongest defense.

Facilities such as Lorato House also advocate for lawful alternatives like the Safe Haven Law, offering overwhelmed parents a way to protect their children without erasing their futures

Without collective action from families, communities, educators, social services, and government institutions, the cycle will continue. And somewhere, quietly, another child will be left behind waiting not just to be found, but to be chosen