BOTSWANA

Botswana has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in Sub-Saharan Africa, with 2008 estimates placing the HIV prevalence rate among adults ages 15-49 at 23.9 percent. In real numbers that translates to some 300,000 people under the age of 49 living with HIV.

The virus has had a dramatic impact on Botswana’s healthcare system — including approximately 17 percent of the country’s healthcare workers lost to AIDS between 1999 and 2005.

With support from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and the United States Government team in country, the HIV/AIDS Twinning Center currently manages five partnerships in Botswana, as well as a Volunteer Healthcare Corps initiative to recruit skilled professionals for placements at partnership sites in country.

(source: PEPFAR Country Profile, May 2009)

Updated June 5, 2009