Area: 581,730 km²
Population: 1,464,167 inhabitants (estimated 1999)
Capital: Gaborone
Currency:  pula
Official language: English
Bordering Countries:  Zambia, Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe

Out of 192 countries, Botswana ranks 122^nd   for life expectancy, 112^th for infant mortality, 65^th for GNP, 141^st   for daily calorie intake, 134^th   for literacy, 57^th   for the percentage of children in full-time education (source: Atlas Encyclopédique Mondial, Nathan Ed., Paris 1996, pp.118-119).

Monthly rainfall is very low, not exceeding 10 mm from October to March and virtually non-existent from March to October. Average temperatures are less than 10°C for the months of June, July and August, but rise to 30°C during December, January and February.

It is commonly considered that there is a Southern gradient which receives less than 100 mm of rain per year. (Kalahari desert) and in the north where the yearly rainfall is more than 600 mm (Okavango Delta) 

Malaria in Botswana occurs as a result of the country’s hilly nature, temperature and rainfall. 

The vast majority of the country is spared malaria because of drought;

The Northern part of the country can be divided into two areas:

The band where transmission is seasonal and short, inferior to 3 months.

The band corresponding to the Okavango delta where the transmission of malaria is seasonal and long, in the range of 4 to 6 months.

According to Mouchet and Coll’s classification, the malaria here is of an unstable nature with southern settings: the transmission period is very short and there are even years where no transmission occurs. There is no acquisition of relative immunity. Malaria occurs in epidemic form during transmission periods and can affect the totality of the population. The 1988 epidemic is an example of such a case. (2).

Plasmodiumfalciparum represents more than 95% of the   parasites isolated (3).

The « Centre National de Surveillance de la Chimiosensibilité » (The national centre for the Monitoring of Chemosensitivity) placed Botswana in group III, which includes countries suffering from «highly chemoresistant plasmodium falciparum bordering on poly-resistant". According to the B.E.H. n°24-25 of the 14th June 2005, Botswana is classified in chloroquine-resistance group III. This signifies that a traveler spending less than 3 months in the country should take the Mefloquine or the Atovaquone-Proguanil combined treatment.

This recommendation is all the more surprising given the fact that there have been no published studies on the chloroquine-resistance of Plasmodiumfalciparum    plus, malaria is virtually absent from the country for the most part of the year. It can only be assumed that the author recommended this because of the malaria situation in neighboring Zimbabwe.

We feel that the circumstances of the journey must be taken into account: humid season Vs dry ? Staying in towns or in the countryside ? Staying at a hotel or in a traditional dwelling? More often than not simple measures of precaution against mosquito bites are largely sufficient.