US, Botswana conduct medical civic action program at Southern Accord 2024

The overall purpose of the MEDCAP with the support from the BDF and in collaboration with the Mahalapye District Health Management Team was to provide relevant medical attention, knowledge, and assistance to the inhabitants of the rural Shoshong region of Botswana. 
 
Medical clinics are in support of exercise Southern Accord, a bilateral military exercise in planning and conduct by United States Army Southern European Task Force, Africa (SETAF-AF) between United States and Botswana forces August from 5th to the 15th. 
 
Every day this week, clinics were employed at a various rural village. 
 
On the fourth day, one was conducted in Mosolotshane which is about 20 km from a fixed clinic in Shoshong and 50 km from the nearby hospital in Mahalapye. 
 
Mosolotshane resident Lekgobo Issac acknowledged hearing of the clinic when it was announced yesterday evening during the broadcasting of the loudspeaker. “Usually is a health post where a few services are offered, but today it is a clinic where one can get more services, has been super. ” 
 
Isaac, 57, got necessary dental and vision services, and got referred to see a doctor in Shoshong this month end. He was also able to arrange for means of transport for the appointment. 
 
Other patients were a young women aged 22 years who came to the MEDCAP requesting cervical cancer screening examination and the other patient visited the MEDCAP seeking for doctors consultation on nutrition problems that comes with her financial hardships. She also got a referral to see a doctor in Gaborone which is the capital city of the country and is a almost 3 hours’ drive from the village. 
 
Major steps toward this vision were taken by the Botswana Defence Force Military Health Services under the direction of Lt Colonel AT Nyere in the lead up to Southern Accord and throughout the entire medical support services rendered at the Southern Accord ‘s training major centres. 
 
members from the United States Army and Air Force affiliated with North Carolina National Guard are utilizing the Gaborone, Thebephatshwa Air Base and Shoshong region in the course of undertaking the training the entire two weeks. Nyere padded on the BDF’s commitment to people back in those communities surrounding the military training facilities. 
 
“Before the exercise, we had meeting with the district health management team and asked what was needed in the district and they provided us with the priorities so at the moment some of the services we are offering are screenings for cervical cancer, HIV/Aids counseling and testing, eye examinations, dental services both examination and tooth extraction, consultations by medical doctors,” he said. 
 
While there was help from SETAF-AF during the planning level in this activity, the BDF is actually running all aspects of the MEDCAP. This is how the Africa-focused command works; and it is a partner-led approach that is enabled by the U. S. 
 
After increasing the number of patients who get to the health post after a successful outreach campaign, the BDF reinforced the health post medical workforce with a caravan of military physicians, surgeons, nurses, paramedics among others. 
 
The BDF and the Mahalapye District Health Management Team use a loudspeaker mounted on a car to inform the residents of the services to be offered in the next clinic by making the necessary announcement during the evening prior to the clinic days. 
 
The clinics have attracted almost 300 persons each day. 
 
During the interview a General Practitioner and a major of the BDF, Dr. Mothai Salobati was interviewed and he attended more than fifty patients per day for musculoskeletal cases, fungal and upper respiratory infection and other ailments. Besides, he availed consultation, drugs and directed patients requiring special care to district hospital in Mahalapye. 
 
Some of the initiatives that were developed by the BDF and the district involved preventive health check. 
 
The district health planning and promotion and education and communication team was available to offer literature on hypertension, diabetes, obesity, malaria, other contagious diseases, child feeding and their health. They also assisted in organising means of transport for the patients attend future appointments outside the village. 
 
Nyere said Military Health Services still plan on doing a regional diagnosis on the treatment given so as to be in a position to know what services and medicines will likely be required in that region in the near future. 
 
One of such persons was U. S. Army Master Sgt. Stephen Minutolo, the medical operations non-commissioned officer in charge for SETAF-AF’s surgeon directorate who was at the Mosolotshane clinic and had words of appreciation for the BDF. 
 
“Of all the aspects that we focused on during this outreach event, this one has to be one of the most effective,” responded Minutolo. “The pop-up clinics are not considered as a some sort of a deal done for today, only to be looked at again, when no longer needed The BDF will incorporate them into a comprehensive study that will reveal prognosis for future, that will be used in assembling preventative measures. 
 
According to Minutolo, who acted as Nyere’s counterpart in the United States during Southern Accord, the event such as the MEDCAP is a chance to establish the credibility of the military forces to Taylor and other civilians. 
 
Besides Mosolotshane clinics have been held in the villages of Ikongwe, Kodibeleng and Moralane. At the end of the exercise in the Shoshong area the BDF will provide medical facilities. 
 
About exercise Southern Accord 
 
Co-chaired by the SETAF-AF and supported by the endowing U. S. Africa Command, Southern Accord is a joint bi-annual exercise involving the U. S. Army and Air Force with BDF counterparts. Education concerns the practical performance of a humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operation, peace support operation, and aeromedical evacuation while improving multilateral forces’ and capabilities’ synchronization.