NPHI Stories: Botswana Public Health Institute (BPHI): Setting Strategic Direction

When CDC met in Botswana April 2016, talks helped set the directions for the Botswana Public Health Institute (BPHI) strategic plans. CDC’s Division of Global Health Protection (DGHP) spent over three days supporting the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) work developing a five-year strategic and operational plan, a 12-18 month work plan, and 12-month budget plan.

Discussions between CDC and the MoH centered on building and supporting information management, laboratory systems, research and development, and emergency management— BPHI development priories. Other priorities include synchronizing public health functions and demonstrating BPHI’s value for Botswana. CDC is helping strengthen BPHI by supporting the following:

• Updating the Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response and public health priority disease lists,
• Assessing laboratory capacity throughout the subnational level,
• Assessing national and subnational research capacities,
• Updating and developing a priority agenda for public health operational research,
• Conducting threat and hazard identification and risk assessment to understand baseline conditions for emergency management, and
• Informing program development and priority training needs.