01 Nov 2020

Botswana hovers around 8.4 to 8.6 per capita in alcohol consumption rendering the situation a critical problem for rehabilitation of heavy users and a pressing concern for policymaking.

With the latest statistics indicating that the country trailed South Africa and Namibia on alcohol consumption, chairperson of the local chapter of the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance (SAAPA), Ms Priscilla Mokgadi, said the country desperately needs alcohol regulation policies to reduce the availability of alcohol and further reductions in advertising to curb the devastating effects of alcohol.

Speaking during official launch of SAAPA’s memory quilt project, Ms Mokgadi indicated that policies should be directed to curb the impact of alcohol.

“Let us use the alcohol levy to reduce the number of people buying alcohol and rehabilitating people affected by alcohol consumption,” she said

She noted that alcohol advertising was a big concern and had been a major contributor in enticing young children to use alcohol in their adult lives.

Meanwhile, the project consultant for the memory quilt Mr Jerry Moloko said there was a major disparity between alcohol policies in the country.

He said the acohol levy policy was not achieving its mandate but rather exacerbating the growing alcohol pandemic.

According to him, without a corporate social responsibility law, alcohol trading businesses could not be held accountable to help address the challenges associated with alcohol use in the country.

He said the enactment of the Alcohol levy should have been precipitated by the setting up of rehabilitation centres around the country which would help those affected. 

Currently, BOSASNET is among one of the only operating rehabilitation centres, however, they offer outpatient services which created a challenge for beneficiaries. He also said that civil organizations were not well funded to deal with the challenges they were addressing which puts beneficiaries at risk. Ends