Botswana

Botswana has one of Africa’s most robust economies and one of its most stable governments. However, the country is also afflicted with the world’s second highest HIV prevalence rate among adults. Botswana’s HIV prevalence rate (22 percent) is more than three times that of the prevalence rate for southern Africa (5 percent). Among adolescents ages 15–17 years, 23.8 percent are orphans, as are 11.9 percent of children under 15 years old.[1] Girls ages 15–19 are twice as likely to be infected with HIV as boys the same age.[2]

Young orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) are vulnerable to poor health, education, and economic outcomes, particularly as they transition to adulthood. Another challenge that affects health is gender-based violence. Over two-thirds of women in Botswana have experienced some form of gender-based violence in their lifetime, including partner and non-partner violence.

MEASURE Evaluation, with support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), assisted the Government of Botswana (GOB) with all these issues. Our efforts aimed to strengthen coordination, harmonization, alignment, and accountability in Botswana’s national HIV/AIDS response. MEASURE Evaluation focused on:

• Helping the Ministry of Health and Wellness to strengthen the quality of data reported by HIV/AIDS programs through improved development and dissemination of standard operating procedures for maintaining data quality and conducting routine data quality assessments
• Working with the National AIDS Coordinating Center (NACA) to implement a customized decision support system catering to NACA’s work
• Helping the Gender Affairs Department within the Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs to develop a multisectoral referral system so that survivors of gender-based violence can access comprehensive care and services to meet their specific needs 
• Evaluating the effect of OVC services on the education, economic and health trajectory of orphans and vulnerable children, as well as related outcomes among older adolescents who graduate from GOB and USAID services
• Providing actionable information, based on research, about how PEPFAR and GOB-supported orphan services prepare older adolescents to be healthy, productive young adults

To learn how this work is continuing after the MEASURE Evaluation project, please visit Data for Impact.