30 Mar 2025

 Air Botswana has gone into a strategic partnership with Airborne Lifeline Foundation, a nonprofit organisation dedicated to providing critical medical services to remote communities.

The partnership aims to enhance healthcare accessibility by facilitating the transportation of medical professionals and other essential personnel to underserved regions of Botswana.

Under this collaboration, Air Botswana will sponsor six flight tickets per month for a period of 12 months for medical teams traveling between Gaborone, Maun, and Kasane.

This will enable doctors and specialists to reach patients in isolated areas, addressing longstanding challenges in Botswana’s healthcare system, including surgical backlogs and limited access to specialised care.

Speaking at the partnership signing event recently, Air Botswana CEO Lulu Rasebotsa emphasised the airline’s commitment to social responsibility and national development.

She stated that the partnership was a significant step in making a real difference, and added that Air Botswana was proud to support Airborne Lifeline Foundation in ensuring that quality healthcare reached even the most remote communities.

Airborne Lifeline Foundation has played a critical role in Botswana’s healthcare landscape, especially in rural and hard-to-reach areas.

The organisation’s founder,  Jonathan Miller highlighted the organisation’s long-standing work in Botswana, recalling past partnerships with Air Botswana during the HIV/AIDS epidemic as well as during the the COVID-19 pandemic when they facilitated vaccine distribution.

He stated that Botswana had historically been a leader in healthcare interventions and that with this renewed partnership, critical medical services, including much-needed surgeries would now reach women and families who had waited too long for care.

With Air Botswana’s support, doctors will now be able to reach Maun and Kasane regularly before traveling further into deep rural areas such as Seronga, Gumare, and Shakawe using smaller aircraft.

Since its inception, Airborne Lifeline Foundation has facilitated the transportation of over 1 400 doctors and provided treatment to more than 22 000 patients.

The foundation specialises in flying doctors with expertise in pediatrics, obstetrics, gyneacology, orthopedics, and general surgery to underserved areas.

Airborne Lifeline’s Operations Director Ms Tammy McAllister, who is a longtime pilot and permanent resident of Botswana, underscored the impact of their work, emphasising how comforting it was for a mother in the Kalahari to know that a pediatrician was coming to her village rather than having to travel hundreds of kilometers to a major city for healthcare service.

The initiative is expected to restore and expand Airborne Lifeline’s operations, which had slowed in recent years, allowing for two flights per month carrying specialists to remote locations. ENDS