Gates Foundation and Botswana Government Funded AIDS Clinic Opens

The Infectious Disease Control Clinic opened Friday in northern Botswana with the help of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The new clinic will treat thousands of patients who were previously cared for at the Nyangabgwe Hospital in Francistown. The clinic is on the grounds of Nyangabgwe Hospital, which currently provides antiretroviral drugs to more than 2,000 HIV-infected patients; however, insufficient staff and poor infrastructure hamper that program. The new clinic will provide a higher level of care, including nutritionists and social workers, said hospital superintendent Dr. Loeta Mazhani. Buoyed by support from Merck & Co. and $50 million from the Gates Foundation, the government has promised to bring AIDS medicine to everyone who needs it.

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