A future where all children are living longer and healthier lives.
To provide high quality comprehensive family centred health care, education and clinical research.
Working in partnerships • Respecting our partners • Prizing teamwork • Embracing and valuing diversity • Focusing on solutions and not problems • Seeing an opportunity in every challenge • The total is greater than the sum of the individual parts
Genome Adventures is an innovative Wellcome Trust community engagement initiative of the Collaborative African Genomics Network (CAfGEN). CAfGEN is a member of the Human Heredity and Health in Africa consortium (H3 Africa) and is coordinated by the Botswana Baylor Children's Clinical Centre of Excellence (COE). Genome Adventures utilises capacity building workshops, educational comics and social media to engage community stakeholders, media practitioners and the general public especially the youth in genomics and biomedical research.
Download Comic BooksOur current patient load is roughly 2,490 active patients, most of whom receive follow-up care every three months as recommended.
read moreThe Impact Evaluation research is a partnership between the Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW) / District Health Management Teams (DHMTs), Botswana-Baylor, UNICEF, and NGOs, and CBOs.
read moreThe programme has compensated for the shortage of doctors in the clinic. We currently have 9 nurses trained in the provision of paediatric HIV/AIDS screening, care, and treatment. These nurses see more than half of our stable patients, and patient satisfaction remains high.
read moreIn the past six years, the project has made serious strides in three fundamental areas geared towards improving the diagnosis of tuberculosis in children in Botswana:
i) improved sputum collection in children, ii) the expansion of information, education and communication materials, and iii) and the development of a monitoring and evaluation system, resulting in the compilation of evidence which supports the Paediatric TB diagnostic algorithm.
The department is making significant contributions in providing holistic care and treatment to COE patients, more so because of the rapid growth in the population of adolescents, who are often faced with psychosocial challenges. Services provided include assessment, diagnosis and treatment of psychological disorders.
read moreFor some children, school meals may be their main source of food, therefore during routine dietetic consultation at the COE, caregivers of such children are advised to encourage their children to eat at school in order to safeguard their nutritional health.
read more" On behalf of the Board of Trustees, Botswana-Baylor Management and staff, I would once again like to take this opportunity to thank all our partners for your unwavering support. Without you, we would not be celebrating these successes.
Stay safe, stay healthy, stay kind, and we look forward to brighter days ahead.
Pula!
"
Teen Club is monthly peer support established in 2005 for HIV-positive adolescents who are between 13-19 years old. Teen Club empowers youths to build positive relationships, improve their self-esteem, and acquire life skills through peer mentorship, adult role modeling, and structured activities. Teen Club creates a safe space for teenagers to form friendships with peers of similar life experiences while learning and acquiring important skills. Teen Club members are all HIV-positive and fully disclosed. Teen Club sessions are guided by an 11 month, standardized curriculum with broad themes such as adherence, love, sex, and healthy relationships, as well as activities such as a talent show. The main Teen Club site is the Baylor Bristol Myers Squib Phatsimong Adolescent Centre in Gaborone, which hosts about 160 teens on the last Saturday of each month. The COE also supported teen clubs at other satellite sites in Botswana. Active Teen Club attendance stood just below 588 across the 18 sites in the past year.
The tutoring program was established in 2008 to support school-age patients with learning difficulties and/or poor academic performance. Over 200 children and adolescents have received this free academic assistance over time. COE patients often miss school time to attend clinic appointments. The academic consequences of such absenteeism are compounded over time. Also, there are difficult psychosocial implications: a vast number of these youths are unable to disclose their HIV status due to widespread societal stigma. Peers’ frequent questioning of inconsistent attendance or the burden associated with asking permission from teachers for time away from school complicates a young person’s academic experience. Additionally, research suggests an increased risk of impaired neurological and psychiatric development in youth who acquired HIV perinatally. COE clinicians, community health workers, psychologists, and social workers assess patients’ academic performance during consultations and those with grades of ‘C’ or below are referred to the program. The program enrolled youth in Standard 1 - Form 5 and averages 15-25 attendees per session on various subjects, with students often focused on maths, agriculture, sciences, or English. The tutoring sessions are led by dedicated volunteers who have either completed undergraduate studies, are still studying in surrounding universities and colleges, or are retired teachers. An average of 12 tutees attended the sessions per weekend
Botswana-Baylor, in partnership with SeriousFun Network, hosts a Family Weekend camp. The camp brings together caregivers and children to spend time together and improve their connectedness through collaborative problem-solving activities. The intended outcome is a strengthened caregiver-child bond, which is critical in improved adherence to treatment, mental health, viral suppression, and general quality of life. The Camp Hope residential camp brought together 60 children. The major goal is to afford campers, particularly those with challenges, the opportunity to rediscover them, earn life skills, and enjoy playing with peers, all of which are facilitators of improved quality of life. Camp activities included social activities such as a campfire, where campers roasted marshmallows and shared stories about the struggles of living with HIV/AIDS, and arts and crafts, where they made friendship bracelets and photo frames. They also participated in life-skills sessions on nutrition, hygiene, and confidence. On the final night, there was an event to celebrate campers’ achievements with a dance and a talent show. Camp Hope Botswana passed the Serious Fun Network Criteria reassessment, further cementing the credibility of our camps.
The number of young adults between 19-25 years old at the COE has been growing significantly. By the second quarter of 2020, there were about 1,125 young adults enrolled in treatment at the COE. Modeled after Teen Club, Young Adults Support Group follows a structured curriculum that includes job readiness skills, personal finance training, emotional and mental health, sexual and reproductive health in- formation, and self-care.
Paediatric KITSOAIDS trainings are five-day workshops funded by the Ministry of Health and Wellness for physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and other health professionals. (The acronym stands for Knowledge, Innovation, and Training Shall Overcome AIDS.) We conducted three paediatric KITSO courses over the past year, reaching 105 professionals drawn from Greater Gaborone, Lobatse, Goodhope and Ngamiland District Health Management Teams.
Baylor-Botswana reviewed the curriculum content to match changes in national treatment guidelines and the evolving needs of children and adolescents living with HIV.
Furing 2013-2014, 110 medical students, residents, fellows and other health professionals visited the COE as visiting scholars from various training programs in Botswana and from around the globe.
Visiting scholars spent most of their time in the COE shadowing and working alongside experienced providers.
Visiting scholars are afforded opportunities to participate in Teen Club activities, work at outreach sites alongside the outreach team, and/or spend time in wards at Princess Marina Hospital.
A Botswana-Baylor patient reflects back on all the amazing people he has met through Botswana-Baylor: doctors, peers, volunteers, and more!
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