• Do not police teachers – BTUOctober 31, 2025
    Union warns BOTEPCO and Government not to ‘police’ teachers under new registration system KITSO RAMONO editors@thepatriot.co.bw RelatedPosts Do not police teachers – BTU 5+1 unions win urgency bid  Which way BPF?   The Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) has cautioned… Read more: Do not police teachers – BTU
  • 5+1 unions win urgency bid October 29, 2025
    Court of Appeal rules in the union’s favour for their case to be heard under certificate of urgency   KITSO RAMONO RelatedPosts Do not police teachers – BTU 5+1 unions win urgency bid  Which way BPF? editors@thepatriot.co.bw Botswana’s main public… Read more: 5+1 unions win urgency bid 
  • Which way BPF?October 29, 2025
    Ookeditse plots the party’s return to UDC – Reatilegoes the other way KITSO RAMONO RelatedPosts Do not police teachers – BTU 5+1 unions win urgency bid  Which way BPF? editors@thepatriot.co.bw   As the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) heads to… Read more: Which way BPF?
  • Pageantry: A peep behind the scenesOctober 27, 2025
    Pageantry: A peep behind the scenes ‘People see the glam, but behind closed doors we battle with a lot’   RelatedPosts Do not police teachers – BTU 5+1 unions win urgency bid  Which way BPF? AMANDA DAVID editors@thepatriot.co.bw  … Read more: Pageantry: A peep behind the scenes
  • Absa Bank Botswana recognised as a Top Employer 2025 in AfricaOctober 27, 2025
    STAFF WRITER editors@thepatriot.co.bw  RelatedPosts Do not police teachers – BTU 5+1 unions win urgency bid  Which way BPF? Absa Bank Botswana is proud to announce its recognition as a Top Employer 2025 by the Top Employers Institute, marking the… Read more: Absa Bank Botswana recognised as a Top Employer 2025 in Africa
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Analysis & Opinions
  • Vacancies & Tenders
  • Login
  • Register
Friday, October 31, 2025
The Patriot On Sunday
Advertisement
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Analysis & Opinions
  • Vacancies & Tenders
No Result
View All Result
Cart / $0.00

No products in the cart.

  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Analysis & Opinions
  • Vacancies & Tenders
No Result
View All Result
The Patriot On Sunday
No Result
View All Result

How COVID-19 ravaged indigenous communities

patriot by patriot
July 22, 2022
in News
0
  • Botswana, Namibia, Angola and South Africa neglect indigenous citizens
  • Communities could hardly access health care
  • Lockdowns in Botswana deepened economic woes
  • MOH insists every citizen has received quality health care

KABO RAMASIA

editors@thepatriot.co.bw

RelatedPosts

Do not police teachers – BTU

5+1 unions win urgency bid 

Which way BPF?

Advancing Rights in Southern Africa (ARISA) has pointed out Botswana and three other Southern African countries including Angola, Namibia and  South Africa, for neglecting the socio economic, wellbeing and rights of its indigenous citizens since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This painful story of neglect amidst a ravaging COVID-19 was captured by ARISA in a report following its assessment conducted at the height of the pandemic in the year 2020. According to ARISA, in all these four countries, indigenous people had challenges accessing health care, information, adequate assistance and interventions as well as an overall threat to their livelihoods and food security during the crisis.

ARISA noted that in Botswana, for instance, a place like Maun which is frequented by tourists posed a COVID-19 threat to the indigenous communities in that area which necessitated the government of Botswana to lock it down to avoid the spread of the virus and endangering the said communities.

According to ARISA, the spread of the marauding virus worsened the already existing challenges of indigenous people’s access to health care.

 “The United Nations (UN) has similarly noted that COVID-19 poses a grave health threat to indigenous peoples around the world,” said the report. “Due to the remoteness of their settlements, indigenous communities already experience poor access to healthcare, significantly higher rates of communicable and non-communicable diseases, lack of access to essential services, sanitation, and other key preventive essentials, such as clean water, soap and disinfectants.”

Still, the report further highlighted that government’s inability to provide health messaging in indigenous languages across these four countries resulted in difficulties in access to information, as a result, the report stated that indigenous communities were left vulnerable and more exposed to the disease.

ARISA has further noted that indigenous communities cultural lifestyle’s exposed them even more to the virus. This is because they believe in traditional gatherings which is a key aspect of their culture, said the report. It added that they frequently gather in larger numbers for conflict resolutions or when sharing meat which was not convenient when COVID-19 was ravaging nations.

However, to establish the truth behind this matter, the Patriot on Sunday sent an enquiry to the Ministry of Health (MOH) which flatly denied that any citizen lacked access to health care since the onset of the pandemic.

 MOH responds

Responding to this publication’s enquiry, MOH Chief spokesperson Dr. Christopher Nyanga said: “despite the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic more than two years ago, the Ministry of Health never ceased providing health services to all Batswana and residents of this country, including the groups you refer to.”

Nyanga, said all people benefit from public health services despite their location, station in life, origin or ethnicity. All ministry DHMTs spread across the country can reach all people in Botswana.

Asked if the current immunization program has extended to Botswana’s indigenous people, he responded in the affirmative. According to the MOH mouthpiece, vaccination has covered the four ends of this country.

He said: “indeed the ministry extended COVID-19 vaccination to all people in Botswana regardless of location in the country, identity, and citizenship. As a result of this all-inclusive approach, more than 70% of the country’s population has so far received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccines.”

Seeking to enquire on how these communities which are both socially and economically disadvantaged have been reached out to since the advent of COVID-19, Nyanga noted that the ministry has been aggressive in public health campaigns.

“As a result, the vaccination progress has been largely successful in all areas across the country, with an average of more than 70% in every village, town and city, including hard to reach areas like the CKGR in the Ghanzi district,” he added.

At this point, Nyanga, reiterated that, contrary to popular belief, the ministry has not left anyone behind in the fight against COVID-19.

But to answer the question of how the government provides health care services to those in remote areas, he further said there are enough resources to reach all areas including those with limited developments.

Moreover, he added that “In places like the CKGR in the Ghanzi DHMT, the ministry regularly visit with mobile clinics and also with helicopters, to serve the people living in the reserve.”

To their defence, the MOH stated that most far away rural areas have health posts but in instances there are no health posts like CKGR, the ministry regularly visits such areas to assess the health situation and conduct primary health care services like consultations, screening for HIV, STDs, health promotion and chronic conditions management.

Economic woes

Exposing the economic hardships that indigenous people faced, ARISA stated for Botswana, they were unable to generate any source of income during lockdowns because several of them depend on casual labour which they could not find during lockdowns and movement restrictions.

“The lockdown impacted their ability to earn a living as they were unable to work on the farms due to movement restrictions,” reads the report.

According to ARISA, even though government provided food rations, there were delays and limitations of what could be provided particularly for people in remote areas. “The Botswana government also made efforts to deliver water to the remote areas in tanks, but the water was not adequate. Given that access to water is always a challenge for almost all indigenous communities, the inadequacy of deliveries during COVID-19 coupled with lack of basic needs such as soap for handwashing was, and continues to be, life threatening.”

Previous Post

Letshego dominates BSE charts

Next Post

Rental revenue boosts BHC

Related Posts

Do not police teachers – BTU
News

Do not police teachers – BTU

October 31, 2025
5+1 unions win urgency bid 
News

5+1 unions win urgency bid 

October 29, 2025
Which way BPF?
News

Which way BPF?

October 29, 2025
With State of Emergency, Still … No medicines!
News

With State of Emergency, Still … No medicines!

October 27, 2025
Boko, UDC oligarchs clash over Cabinet
News

Boko, UDC oligarchs clash over Cabinet

October 27, 2025
UDC hits & misses
News

UDC hits & misses

October 22, 2025
Next Post
Rental revenue boosts BHC

Rental revenue boosts BHC

Please login to join discussion
  • Do not police teachers – BTUOctober 31, 2025
    Union warns BOTEPCO and Government not to ‘police’ teachers under new registration system KITSO RAMONO editors@thepatriot.co.bw RelatedPosts Do not police teachers – BTU 5+1 unions win urgency bid  Which way BPF?   The Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) has cautioned… Read more: Do not police teachers – BTU
  • 5+1 unions win urgency bid October 29, 2025
    Court of Appeal rules in the union’s favour for their case to be heard under certificate of urgency   KITSO RAMONO RelatedPosts Do not police teachers – BTU 5+1 unions win urgency bid  Which way BPF? editors@thepatriot.co.bw Botswana’s main public… Read more: 5+1 unions win urgency bid 
  • Which way BPF?October 29, 2025
    Ookeditse plots the party’s return to UDC – Reatilegoes the other way KITSO RAMONO RelatedPosts Do not police teachers – BTU 5+1 unions win urgency bid  Which way BPF? editors@thepatriot.co.bw   As the Botswana Patriotic Front (BPF) heads to… Read more: Which way BPF?
  • Pageantry: A peep behind the scenesOctober 27, 2025
    Pageantry: A peep behind the scenes ‘People see the glam, but behind closed doors we battle with a lot’   RelatedPosts Do not police teachers – BTU 5+1 unions win urgency bid  Which way BPF? AMANDA DAVID editors@thepatriot.co.bw  … Read more: Pageantry: A peep behind the scenes
  • Absa Bank Botswana recognised as a Top Employer 2025 in AfricaOctober 27, 2025
    STAFF WRITER editors@thepatriot.co.bw  RelatedPosts Do not police teachers – BTU 5+1 unions win urgency bid  Which way BPF? Absa Bank Botswana is proud to announce its recognition as a Top Employer 2025 by the Top Employers Institute, marking the… Read more: Absa Bank Botswana recognised as a Top Employer 2025 in Africa
The Patriot On Sunday

© 2024 Copyright The Patriot On Sunday - Inspired by Search Mart.

Navigate Site

  • About Us
  • Advertise
  • Disclaimer
  • Contact Us

Follow Us

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Cart
  • Home
  • News
  • Business
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Analysis & Opinions
  • Vacancies & Tenders

© 2024 Copyright The Patriot On Sunday - Inspired by Search Mart.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.
Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?