Botswana’s diamond-funded health system has failed: it needs to be reformed and rebuilt | Duma Gideon Boko

As Botswana’s president here is my plan to renew this country’s beleaguered health system – and my vision for a stronger Africa

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hortages of medicine in Botswana forced me to declare a public health emergency last year. Patients went without treatment – not because health workers failed them, but because the system did. For a nation committed to universal healthcare, free at the point of use, it was a moment of hard truth.

Even outwardly strong public health systems can be fragile. As donor assistance bites across the continent, governments cannot afford to delay building resilience.

As a stable, middle-income country, Botswana was only ever a peripheral recipient of aid. Yet when diamond revenues – the country’s primary export – fell amid a market downturn, the fiscal shock was no different in effect.