Serowe, Botswana - 8 February 2018:The Ministry of Lands Management, Water and Sanitation, held a successful two day  annual wellness day hosted by the Serowe Main Landboard Services for all its employees drawn from the fifteen affiliate sub-land boards. This event brought together members of the sub-land boards, including senior executives, engineers, physical planners, and administrative staff members. The 2018 annual events were organized in  selected venues  around Serowe Village. They  included outdoor and indoor physical sports and health promotion activities such as aerobics, cycling competition, athletics, football, volleyball and tug of war.
 
The theme of the Wellness day, “Wellness, My pride” was targeted at the Ngwato Land board employees numbering over 500 staff members including board members and senior management staff.
 
The WHO Botswana office was invited to the wellness event to sensitize participants on Antimicrobial Resistance, especially related to how their work can contribute to the AMR response and containment in Botswana. WHO presented on the occasion a well-received health talk on: “Antimicrobial Resistance” and seized the opportunity to sensitize and raise awareness on the worrisome trend of antibiotic abuse, its implication on human and animal health; and called on the land board staff to act as change agents to educate communities and members of the public on the dangers and implications of antibiotic abuse.
 
Also during the interactive session participants were taken through the process of introspection by asking leading questions around antimicrobial awareness and use in communities. To the participant’s admittance, they had not really known about the indiscriminate use of antibiotics, and the implications it can have in the society. They all committed to taking action on contributing to the containment of AMR, in the workplaces and in their lives.

The WHO team also took advantage to interact with the Coordinator Safety, Health Senior board members and local district officials. Participants were informed Botswana has developed an AMR National Action Plan 2017-2022 to tackle the growing AMR challenge. The participants were sensitized on the need to advocate for rationale use of antimicrobials.