<p><strong>BACKGROUND: </strong>There is very limited clinical and observational data on acute pain experienced by children in sub-Saharan Africa.</p>

<p><strong>AIMS: </strong>To report the prevalence and intensity of acute pain, pain management practices, and describe associations between acute pain outcomes, children's and parents or guardian's demographics in hospitalized children aged 2 months to 13 years in Botswana.</p>

<p><strong>DESIGN: </strong>A descriptive correlational prospective observational study using five repeated cross-sectional samples.</p>

<p><strong>SETTINGS: </strong>Two referral hospitals in Botswana.</p>

<p><strong>PARTICIPANTS: </strong>The sample size included 308 children and 226 parents or guardians. Data were collected between November 2018 and February 2019 from children, their parents or guardians (&lt;7 years child), and the health record for pain documentation and treatment.</p>

<p><strong>MEASURES: </strong>Pain was measured using Faces Pain Scale-Revised for children ≥7 years, revised Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability scale for children &lt;7 years and numeric rating scale for parents or guardians.</p>

<p><strong>RESULTS: </strong>There are 1,290 data points for children of which 1,000 were children &lt;7 years and 999 data points for parents or guardians of children &lt;7 years were used in analysis. Fifty percent of children &lt;7 years were in pain using the revised Face, Legs, Activity, Cry, Consolability scale, whereas parents indicated 46% to be in pain. The pain prevalence for children ≥7 years was estimated at 54%. Pain was documentated at a rate of 54 % on the health records. Acetaminophen was most common analgesic across all age groups. Univariate associations of child &lt;7 years pain intensity was statistically significant (p ≤ .05) for weight, diagnosis, residence, and parent relationship. Parents reported pain intensity was statistically significant (p ≤ .05) for child sex, weight, diagnosis, residence, surgery, parent or guardian age and education. Only age and surgery were significant for children ≥7 years.</p>

<p><strong>CONCLUSIONS: </strong>Acute pain prevalence and intensity among hospitalized children in Botswana is low.</p>