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BOTSWANA / HIV COUNCELLORS
STORY: BOSTWANA/ HIV COUNCELLORS
TRT: 2:57
SOURCE: UNICEF
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 16-20 OCTOBER 2013, GABORONE, BOTSWANA
1. Wide shot, Esther Tebatso with patient getting HIV test
2. Close up, needle pulling blood for test
3. Med shot, Esther works with blood sample
4. Close up, Esther stamps ‘Negative’ result on paper
5. Med shot, Esther speaking to the woman who just got tested for HIV
6. Close up, Esther writing
7. SOUNDBITE(English) Esther Tebatso, Lay Counsellor :
“There were many deaths because of HIV so I decided to come and join the Ministry of Health as a lay counsellor to help my community survive.”
8. Wide shot, Esther putting on her coat
9. Close up, Esther putting on her coat
10. Wide shot, Esther arranging items on her desk
11. Med shot, Esther sitting behind her desk
12. Close up, Esther points to tools used to indicate result of HIV test
13. Wide shot, Wide of Dr Refeletswe Lebelonyane, Director of the Department of HIV and AIDS, Ministry of Health sitting at her desk
14. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Refeletswe Lebelonyane, Director of the Department of HIV and Aids, Ministry of Health, Botswana:
“We really tackled HIV like we are in a war. We are going to fight with the little that we have, we have going to put the little resources that we have into the fight of HIV because saving the children was to save the nation.”
15. Wide shot, Dirang Sibanda doing check up on pregnant patient
16. Close up, Dirang Sibanda doing check up on pregnant patient
17. Close up, pregnant woman being examined
18. Close up, Dirang Sibanda doing check up on pregnant woman
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Dirang Sibanda, Midwife and Registered Nurse:
“The happiest thing is to see n mother who is HIV positive bring up a baby who is negative…”
20. Wide shot, low angle of waiting room
21. Close up, tilt up of mother in clinic waiting room
22. Med shot, pregnant mother having her blood pressure tested
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Refeletswe Lebelonyane, Director of the Department of HIV and Aids, Ministry of Health, Botswana:
“Our vision as a country is zero new infections by 2016. That’s where we want to be. We are no longer concerned about only the baby but we are also concerned about the mother, to keep the mother alive. Put the mother early on treatment and also make sure that the mother is healthy so that the mother can also take care of this child.”
24. Wide shot, boys walking down street
25. Med shot, boy in clinic waiting room playing with cars
Tension fills the air in this small clinic in Botswana
Esther Tebatso is a performing rapid HIV test for this mother.
The test takes just about 15 minutes
And the results are met with a sigh of relief , she’s negative.
Esther is, what’s called, a lay counsellor. She tests, screens and counsels HIV positive mothers.
It’s not an easy job and certainly a far cry from her former career in a bank.
SOUNDBITE(English) Esther Tebatso, Lay Counsellor :
“There were many deaths because of HIV so I decided to come and join the Ministry of Health as a lay counsellor to help my community survive.”
Lay counsellors such as Esther became part of the health system around ten years ago in Botswana as part of the government’s prevention of mother to child transmission of HIV programme.
This combined with routine testing for all pregnant mothers, along with free anti-retroviral drugs would prove to be the turning point in the fight against HIV in a country with one of the highest prevalence rates in the world.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Refeletswe Lebelonyane, Director of the Department of HIV and Aids, Ministry of Health, Botswana:
“We really tackled HIV like we are in a war. We are going to fight with the little that we have, we have going to put the little resources that we have into the fight of HIV because saving the children was to save the nation.”
The results of this programme speak for themselves.
Today, almost all pregnant women are tested for HIV and around 95 percent who are positive --- are on ARVs.
The HIV transmission rate from mother to child has dropped to less than three percent.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dirang Sibanda, Midwife and Registered Nurse:
“The happiest thing is to see n mother who is HIV positive bring up a baby who is negative…”
Now the task is to make sure that not only all babies are born HIV free but also that the mothers remain healthy. This is why Botswana with support from the UNICEF and other partners has developed an Elimination of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV and Keeping Mothers Alive Plan.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Refeletswe Lebelonyane, Director of the Department of HIV and Aids, Ministry of Health, Botswana:
“Our vision as a country is zero new infections by 2016. That’s where we want to be. We are no longer concerned about only the baby but we are also concerned about the mother, to keep the mother alive. Put the mother early on treatment and also make sure that the mother is healthy so that the mother can also take care of this child.”
It has not and will not be an easy road, but Botswana certainly is on the right track
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