Dr. Thandi Katlholo is a Botswana-based public health and climate justice expert and Founder and Managing Director of Sthands Consulting (Pty) Ltd. With over 15 years of experience across government, UN systems, and regional programmes, she specializes in the intersection of mining, energy development, occupational health, and climate resilience. Her work focuses on ensuring that Botswana’s mineral and energy expansion does not repeat the historical public health burdens associated with extractive industries — particularly tuberculosis (TB), silicosis, and migration-related treatment interruptions affecting miners and ex-miners across Southern Africa.

Dr. Katlholo has led multi-country assessments on TB and occupational health, including work under the Tuberculosis in the Mining Sector (TIMS) framework. In 2022, she co-led Botswana’s TB Communities, Rights and Gender assessment examining the interconnected realities of silica exposure, labor migration, environmental degradation, and rising climate stressors in mining communities. Her team’s abstract on miners’ health has been accepted at the Geneva Health Forum, bringing Botswana’s mining-health nexus into global dialogue.

She advocates for a “No Repeat of Legacy TB” framework — a policy-driven approach that calls for:

●      Embedding TB and silicosis surveillance within mining licensing conditions

●      Climate-smart mine design, ventilation, and dust-control systems

●      Cross-border continuity of care for migrant workers

●      Integration of occupational health into energy transition planning

●      Alignment of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) investments with measurable health outcomes

●      Digital systems for early detection, reporting, and worker protection

As Vice President of the Botswana Green Building Council and Chair of the Botswana Public Health Association, Dr. Katlholo bridges mining sector governance, built environment health standards, and national development strategy. She was a member of Botswana’s delegation to COP28, where she advocated for equitable energy transition frameworks that protect vulnerable populations in resource-dependent economies.

Her central message to the mining and energy sector is clear:

As Botswana powers its economic future through minerals and energy expansion, health security must be engineered into the system — not addressed only after crisis emerges.