"If Botswana does not tackle its AIDS problem head on, then the country will not survive," announced then President of Botswana Festus Mogae in 2000.
Now, at the end of Mogae's decade-long presidency earlier this year, Botswana is at the forefront of the continent's battle with AIDS. Mogae addressed students and faculty on his country's efforts last Friday.
At the time Mogae made this shocking statement, the subject of AIDS was still shrouded with ignorance and fear. Even as the epidemic ravaged large parts of the continent, many African nations denied that a problem even existed.
Botswana, however, broke the silence and resolved to tackle the problem head on.
Under Mogae's leadership, the government implemented widespread counseling and testing services in an effort to spread education about AIDS and to remove its surrounding stigma. At the same time the government put into effect a campaign to prevent mother-child transmission.
And in fact a 40-percent rate of transmission from HIV-infected mothers to their children was axed to 4 percent during his presidency.
Even though AIDS has afflicted Botswana since 1985, little was still known about the virus at the turn of millenium. This situation, in addition to the lack of medical resources in the nation, sparked the launch of the Penn-in-Botswana program in 2001.
"The few doctors and nurses we had didn't know anything about this terrible disease we were dying from," Mogae explained, "and that's where [Penn] came in very handy."
Over the past seven years many students and faculty members have visited the country, and the Botswana UPenn Partnership is helping Botswana to establish its own medical school.
In addition, Mogae said Botswana's government plans to implement new prevention campaigns, from efforts to change attitudes to increased condom distribution.
Although the prevalence of AIDS is still high, the future looks good. "There are now people who have lived with the virus for over 10 years- - in the old days they would have died," Mogae said.
This optimism seemed to rub off on the audience. "It's great that Botswana can now move onto the next stage in fighting AIDS," said Internal Medicine Resident Yvonne Njage. "Botswana is really looking to the future."
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