A statistical analysis of 1993 official morbidity statistics pertaining to eight parasitic
and infectious diseases revealed distinctive spatial patterns and suggested a nwnber of research
questions. It is argued that mapping and tabulation of these patterns using appropriate statistic
tools would provide a good basis for monitoring the health status of the population across
Botswana's health districts. Principal components analysis indicated STDs, malaria, and
bilharzia as the principal morbidity dimensions variously associated with hepatitis,
tuberculosis, infective-parasitic and diarrhoeal diseases. Further analysis using z-scores and
composite z-scores enabled a ranking of health districts from best to worst in terms of disease
incidence in 1993.