Gaborone — The corporate social responsibility arm of the famous jewellery manufacturer, Tiffany, has given a $2 million grant (P15 million) for the construction of a new four storey building at the Princess Marina Hospital.

President Fernanda Kellogg of New York-based Tiffany and Company Foundation, who was in Gaborone recently said the building will be the new home for several activities. These include HIV-AIDS research conducted by doctors from the University of Penn Medical School; teaching classrooms for students and offices for faculty of the University of Botswana University Medical School; a clinic for HIV/AIDS patients; and a pediatric facility.

Kellogg said the budget for the new facility will be over $4 million (P30 million) with the University of Penn providing extra-funding. It is expected that the new building will be completed and opened in the early part of 2011. Kellogg told the Monitor that the building will be owned by the Ministry of Health, under the direction of the Princess Marina Hospital.

She explained that Tiffany and Company Foundation is interested in HIV/AIDS research because the pandemic is one of the biggest problems in Botswana. "The University of Penn Medical School, under the direction of Dr. Harvey Freidman, has about 75 doctors working in the Princess Marina Hospital and doing important research for the past eight years. We believe that this work will help build the medical capacity at the Princess Marina Hospital and the University of Botswana Medical School as well as improve the effects that this disease has on the people of Botswana," Kellogg said.

The building will provide a new facility to positively enhance the work environment for the doctors and people living with HIV/AIDS.

"This is a unique project and the only health project that the Tiffany and Company Foundation has funded," she said.

The foundation has supported two wildlife conservation programmes in Botswana. It has given a $515,000 grant to the Kalahari Conservation Society to sink 18 bore-holes in the Khutse and Central Kalahari Game Reserves.

"Tiffany believes that water is as precious as diamonds and the best gift that Tiffany can give to the country of Botswana is the gift of precious water in the Kalahari Desert," Kellog said.

"The water from the borehole is crystal clear but the surprise was the taste. It was very salty - like the ocean! I am told that the animals will like the taste. The sun was hot-hot-hot and relief came from the soft wind and the cool of the evening. Most memorable for me was the full moon on the night of my visit (to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve). It was magical to enjoy the bright moon and listen to the lions in the distance," she said.

The Tiffany Foundation has supported lion research and wildlife corridors in Botswana with the African Wildlife Foundation (AWF). Kellogg explained that WWF is working in the northern part of Botswana in the Chobe National Park doing lion research.

The AWF is participating in the creation of wildlife corridors to ease the pressure from the over population of elephants in Chobe. Kellogg said Botswana has received the biggest chunk of funding from Tiffany and Company Foundation outside the United States.