Botswana destination #7: The Botswana-Baylor Children’s Clinical Centre of Excellence

The Botswana-Baylor COE

This is where I work. The Botswana-Baylor Children's Clinical Center of Excellence (COE) was opened and officially dedicated by His Excellency Mr. Festus Mogae, President of the Republic of Botswana, on June 20, 2003. The facility was the first of its kind on the African continent (since followed by others in Uganda, Lesotho, Swaziland (where I used to work), Malawi, and soon Tanzania. The Botswana clinic is one of the largest providers of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for children in Africa. Since its inception, over 2,000 children have been initiated on HAART by Botswana-Baylor staff.

As part of the Government's National ARV Program known as MASA (literally, "new dawn"), we provide comprehensive treatment and care services to all Batswana children, free of charge. The clinical team consists of nurses, doctors, social workers, a psychologist, translators, M&E/data officers, and others.

Thanks to the Pediatric AIDS Corps Program, Baylor supports over half of the paediatric specialists in the country.

My office is on the second floor. From there, I help to coordinate the COE’s programs, which in addition to direct provision of ARV care include: nationwide clinical mentorship and didactic training in pediatric HIV prevention care and treatment (for health professionals as well as laypersons); pediatric TB/HIV diagnostic and treatment support; client home visits; adolescent-specific services; technical support for several areas of pediatric sub-specialty care; and participation in national guideline/policy advisory committees (with foci ranging from TB/HIV to national research protocols, IMCI to HIV prevention).

These programs enjoy funding support from UNICEF, the CDC, the Botswana MoH, and others. If you want to learn more, contact me or, better still, drop on by for a visit.