08 Sep 2013

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that about six million people died in the year 2011 from tobacco use alone and that nearly 80 per cent of these deaths occurred in low and middle income countries among them, Botswana.

This was said by the Anti-Tobacco Network (ANT) coordinator north, Mr Tebogo Maule at the launch of the I don’t want to be a Walking Billboard for the Tobacco Industry campaign in Francistown on September 6. Mr Maule said expressed shock that some people could afford to spend money on buying cigarettes than food.

He further noted that recent data from WHO had revealed that the risks of smoking were substantially higher than previously thought, citing that with prolonged smoking, smokers had death rates about three times higher than non-smokers at all ages from young adults.

He therefore, noted that the campaign which was first launched in Gaborone in April this year, aimed to sensitise Batswana on the dangers of smoking. 

Also, he mentioned that one of their targets was to address the situation where people unwittingly advertise tobacco products by buying clothes or things that have tobacco brand names on them.

Mr Maule further asserted that although advertisements for tobacco and its products have long been banned, the industry still found ways of advertising either through clothes or on children toys.

And since children are fanatics of these clothes unaware they will be advertising tobacco for free, pressurise their parents to buy them, citing the example of the Ferrari jacket which has a big wording of Marlboro cigarettes and camel belts.

“With this campaign we are deliberately aiming to address this problem by making Batswana aware that they should not allow the tobacco industry to use them,” he stressed.

In addition, he said because the negative health consequences of tobacco are not as immediate as with other hazardous substances this poses a challenge in prioritising tobacco control.

On other issues, he mentioned that the health risks of tobacco are vastly underestimated by the public and even those who are responsible for protecting as well as promoting public health.

This widespread underestimation of risks associated with tobacco use, he said, was a major reason why tobacco products were still widely available and policies were also lenient on the tobacco industry.

It is for that reason, he said, that for the past three years they have been calling on the government to apply similar stringent rules and urge regulation on tobacco products as they did with the alcohol upon realising its effect on the nation. Ends