A 10-tonne Indian ARV donation offers support to Botswana’s health system as it recovers from the medicines supply crisis that prompted a national emergency in 2025.
BONGANI MALUNGA
India has announced a 10-tonne donation of antiretroviral (ARV) medicines to Botswana, offering support to a public health system still recovering from the supply crisis that prompted a national health emergency in 2025.
India’s External Affairs Minister, Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, confirmed the donation in a social media statement on Tuesday afternoon.
Images accompanying the post showed boxes marked with the Indian flag, packed and ready for dispatch, alongside close-up photographs of the medical supplies.
“An affirmation of our commitment to strengthening health cooperation with our Global South partners,” Jaishankar wrote.
He presented the shipment as part of India’s broader outreach to African nations.
Supply Chain Crisis
President Duma Boko declared a public health emergency in August 2025 after Botswana’s Central Medical Stores system collapsed amid mismanagement and allegedly inflated supplier pricing, with drug costs running five to ten times above normal rates.
Hospitals postponed non-urgent surgery as shortages extended beyond ARVs to medicines for cancer, diabetes, tuberculosis, hypertension and asthma.
The government deployed the military to distribute emergency stock and secured emergency funding. Researchers have since cited the episode as evidence of deeper governance and procurement failures at Central Medical Stores.
Treatment Under Pressure
Botswana has historically been regarded as a model for HIV/AIDS treatment in Africa, having pioneered near-universal ARV access in the early 2000s.
Reduced international aid, including cuts to US-backed HIV, malaria and tuberculosis programmes, combined with the 2025 supply crisis, has left the country’s treatment infrastructure vulnerable.