Short Report - Special Collection: COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 in Botswana: Contributions from family physicians

Keneilwe Motlhatlhedi, Yaone Bogatsu, Koketso Maotwe, Billy Tsima
African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine | Vol 12, No 1 | a2497 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/phcfm.v12i1.2497 | © 2020 Keneilwe Motlhatlhedi, Yaone Bogatsu, Koketso Maotwe, Billy Tsima | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 27 April 2020 | Published: 09 July 2020

About the author(s)

Keneilwe Motlhatlhedi, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Botswana, Maun, Botswana
Yaone Bogatsu, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana
Koketso Maotwe, Private Practice, Orapa, Botswana
Billy Tsima, Department of Family Medicine and Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the respiratory disease caused by the virus now called as SARS-CoV-2 and first identified in Wuhan, China, has spread to all regions of the world. At the time of this write-up, over 5.1 million people had been infected by the virus globally. The World Health Organization estimates that in Africa over 5 million people would need hospital admission during the course of the pandemic. Interventions to prevent the disease include social distancing and nationwide lockdowns, which, whilst necessary, have had negative effects not only on the economic status of many but also on primary care and especially the management of chronic illnesses. There are opportunities for primary care physicians to continue learning, lend humanitarian aid and provide the needed care in this context. Social media has promising applications in this rapidly changing context.

Keywords

COVID-19; Botswana; family medicine; primary care; contributions

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