Women and Youth Entrepreneurship in Botswana

The study on women and youth entrepreneurship in Botswana investigated the environmental factors that affect the performance of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) with specific focus on microenterprises (defined as those that employ less than 6 people including owner and annual turnover of less than P60,000) and the extent to which the microenterprises have utilized the government institutional credit and capacity building programmes to expand their enterprises.

Estimating the cost of care giving on caregivers for people living with HIV and AIDS in Botswana: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Community home-based care is the Botswana Government's preferred means of providing care for people living with HIV (PLHIV). However, primary (family members) or volunteer (community members) caregivers experience poverty, are socially isolated, endure stigma and psychological distress, and lack basic care-giving education. Community home-based care also imposes considerable costs on patients, their caregivers and families in terms of time, effort and commitment. An analysis of the costs incurred by caregivers in providing care to PLHIV will assist health and social care decision makers in planning the most appropriate ways to meet future service needs of PLHIV and their caregivers.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This study estimated the cost incurred in providing care for PLHIV through a stratified sample of 169 primary and volunteer caregivers drawn from eight community home-based care groups in four health districts in Botswana.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The results show that the mean of the total monthly cost (explicit and indirect costs) incurred by the caregivers was $(90.45 ± 9.08) while the mean explicit cost of care giving was$(65.22 ± 7.82). This mean of the total monthly cost is about one and a half times the caregivers' mean monthly income of $66.00 (± 5.98) and more than six times the Government of Botswana's financial support to the caregivers. In addition, the cost incurred per visit by the caregivers was$15.26, while the total expenditure incurred per client or family in a month was $184.17.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The study, therefore, concludes that as the cost of providing care services to PLHIV is very high, the Government of Botswana should substantially increase the allowances paid to caregivers and the support it provides for the families of the clients. The overall costs for such a programme would be quite low compared with the huge sum of money budgeted each year for health care and for HIV and AIDS.</p

Relationship between socio-economic characteristics of older adults’ women and family planning use in Botswana

Older adults (50 years and over) are still sexually active and therefore vulnerable to unplanned pregnancy, infection of STIs and HIV, yet there are no programmes in place to cater for their family planning needs. The objective of the study is to show how some socio-economic characteristics of older adults influence their family planning (FP) use. The study used a stratified random sampling design where four health districts (two urban and two rural) were purposively selected and the sample size of 444 older adult women allocated to the districts using proportional allocation to size. Snowball technique was used in identifying respondents. The multinomial logistic regression analysis reveals that while age, marital status, educational qualification, employment status, menopausal status, district and desire for another child jointly significantly predict FP use, only menopausal status and desire for another child individually significantly (p&lt;0.01) predict FP use. Older adult women who desired another child were significantly (p&lt;0.01) 7.5 times more likely to use family planning (FP) methods than those who do not want another child. The postmenopausal older adult women were less likely to use FP methods than those in their premenopausal state (OR = 0.13). Women with no schooling were less likely to use FP methods than those with degree/professional qualifications. Single and married women were less likely to use FP methods than the divorced/widowed/separated. The study recommends the promotion of education and training on FP use among the older adult women that will take into consideration their menopausal status and desire for another child. The training should be home-based

Family planning desires of older adults (50 years and over) in Botswana

Background: This study analysed the views of a stratified sample of 444 older adult women from selected health districts in Botswana on their family planning (FP) use, knowledge, accessibility and availability.Methods: Four health districts (two rural and two urban) were purposively selected. The sample of 444 older adults was proportionally allocated to the districts. The snowball technique was used in identifying older adults from each district.Results: Contraceptive prevalence among the older adults is low (25. 2%); ever used rate was 23.6%, with unmet need as high as 75.2%. The traditional methods are mainly used. Knowledge, availability and accessibility of the natural methods are high. The likelihood ratio test shows that age, educational status, marital status and employment jointly significantly predicts (p 0.05) the use of FP.Conclusion: Family planning programme developers and policy-makers should develop educational interventions that will be age specific and relevant to older adults

Patent and research exemption: Challenges for research capacity and utilization in universities, research institutions and industry in Botswana

This study examined the opinions of a stratified sample of 366 researchers drawn from universities, research institutions and industries in Botswana on the challenges of patent and research exemptions on research capacity and utilization. The study found out the level of patent awareness and intellectual property awareness in the country generally is low (67%), while 69% of the researchers did not understand what the patent system is. Although 36% of the researchers were aware that they could conduct their researches or experiments on patented inventions without infringing on the rights of patentee to their inventions by invoking research exemptions, only 9 percent knew the procedure for invoking research exemption. Also, 77% were of the view that universities and research institutions should be granted research exemptions. The study further revealed that 8 percent of the researchers had applied for patent while 0.5% of the registered patentees in Botswana were locals. The most pressing challenge highlighted by researchers for inability to apply for patent was unawareness of conventions/laws governing patent practices. The study, therefore, recommends immediate knowledge-based interventions by Government of Botswana to create awareness among researchers and the entire population on Intellectual Property Rights within which the patent system falls. In addition, it is strongly recommended that legislation introducing an experimental use exemption should be introduced to encourage research and innovations.