Gaborone, Botswana - 4 May 2018: The Ministry of Health and Wellness (MoHW) of the Republic of Botswana, in collaboration with UNFPA and WHO, convened a national stakeholders’ consultation meeting on the draft national standards for quality health care services for adolescents and youth from 2 to 4 May, 2018. The UNFPA Office in Botswana led in the conduct of the situation analysis of adolescent and youth health in Botswana, which informed the domestication of the WHO/UNAIDS global standards for quality of health care services for adolescents.

There were thirty participants consisting of representatives from MoHW programmes (SRH, FP, HPED, Health Inspectorate); Ministry of Basic Education; Nursing and Midwifery Council of Botswana; Botswana Family Welfare Association; some UN agencies (WHO, UNFPA, UNAIDS); NGOs, Health teaching Institutions; Health care providers (from primary health care facilities and referral hospitals) and District Health Management Teams.
 
The World Health Organization (Headquarters, AFRO and Country Office) provided Technical support to Botswana in facilitating the national technical consultation to review and validate the draft national standards and their measurement criteria to assess the compliance of health facilities and health care providers, including support staff. The stakeholders built consensus on the eight
Standards and their criteria, including 24 priority Criteria for regular monitoring of the standards.

A standard defines the performance expectations, structures, or processes needed for an organization to provide a safe, equitable, acceptable, accessible, effective and appropriate services. These standards will help to ensure the implementation of evidence-based interventions to improve the health and well-being of adolescents and youth with the aim of achieving universal health coverage, leaving no one behind.

The stakeholders also agreed on the next steps to finalize the national standards, officially endorse and disseminate, ensure these standards are part of the planned national health sector accreditation standards, and link the standards with the development of the operational plan of the adolescent component of the Botswana integrated Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition (RMNCAH-N) strategy 2018-2022.