Description: Botswanan President, Duma Boko has announced a state of national health emergency citing shortages in crucial medical supplies, the cessation of foreign aid and the country’s struggling diamond – dependent economy. Boko further stated that emergency budget amounting to approximately $18 million has been approved for the procurement of medical supplies which would be subsequently distributed across the country by the military. UNICEF has also supported the President’s statements, claiming that severe shortages of elementary nutrition supplies were affecting the country’s western districts near the Namibian border, where one in five children were underweight. Boko also emphasized the need for economic diversification of the country which has been largely dependent on its diamond producing and exporting capacities, which in recent years, have been significantly reduced.
Impact: Botswana’s state declaration of national health emergency emphasizes the importance of foreign aid programs essential to facilitating support for underdeveloped countries which are dependent on single major source of national revenue. The health crisis could also be exploited by pharmaceutical companies as private business interests and various other state actors which could offer Botswana favorable conditions for assisting the country’s ailing health system in return for other concessions of interest. The crisis also highlights the importance of a diverse economy which could substitute struggling sources and sectors of national wealth in times when global markets are severely disrupted by several factors such as trade and energy wars and investment uncertainty. Long – term consequences from the abrupt crisis aren’t expected, however, systematic changes in the country’s economic and governing systems are necessary in order to avoid such crises in the future.