24 Aug 2022

Anti Tobacco Network organisation in collaboration with National Aids and Health Promotion Agency (NAPHA) have launched a tobacco control campaign in Maun to raise awareness on the health and socio-economic impact of tobacco use.

The campaign is launched in areas where tobacco prevalence is high and Maun is reported to be amongst the top villages where tobacco use is high in Botswana according to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey.

Ngamiland Council of Non-Governmental Organizations (NCONGO) has been identified as a partner and funded to the tune of over P700 000 to drive the campaign in the Ngamiland region.

Speaking during the launch in Maun Monday, Anti Tobacco Network  acting executive director, Mr Thato Katlholo said  government was committed to protecting citizens from negative impact of tobacco hence the campaign.

The campaign, he said was also part of Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) agenda that indicated that tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets increased the risk of dying from NCDs.

As such the agenda sets the goal of reducing premature deaths from NCDs by one third by 2030 through prevention and treatment, he said.

Mr Katlholo further noted that the anti tobacco organisation was equally committed to have a tobacco-free Botswana hence their collaboration with NAHPA which injected P4.3 million to conduct tobacco campaigns in areas where tobacco use was high as per the survey conducted in 2017.

Anti Tobacco Network is a non-governmental organisation which plays an advocacy role against the use of tobacco and its products.

 Mr Katlholo appreciated that NAPHA recognised their efforts and funded them to sensitise communities about dangers of tobacco and COVID-19 after realising that people who suffered most were addicted to tobacco and were dying of COVID-19.

To achieve this sensitisation, Mr Katlholo said they created partnerships with some support groups and non-governmental organisations to spearhead the campaigns citing Stop Smoking Support Group, which was implementing in the Kweneng region while Humana People to People was rolling it in areas of Hukuntsi and Ghanzi and NCONGO was serving the Ngamiland region.

“The objectives of the campaign were to build institutional capacity for community based organizations implementing the tobacco awareness campaign in the districts and to increase awareness on the health and socio-economic effects of tobacco amongst members of different communities.”

The campaign also aimed to assist smokers who wanted to quit through peer to peer support groups, said Mr Katlholo.

 He said 83 per cent of people wanted to quit but found it hard because they were addicted and hoped that the campaign would make a difference.

Trained community based organisations, he said were expected to conduct health talk sessions in clinics, hospitals, clubs, workplaces, schools, churches on the dangers of tobacco use.

For his part NCONGO director, Mr Siyoka Simasiku said they welcomed the campaign and saw it as a way of mainstreaming the health aspect into the environment arena, adding that they had already started piloting part of the project.

He said they had engaged some community trusts such as Okavango Kopano Mokoro Community Trust (OKMCT) and Sankoyo Tshwaragano Management Trust to hire community mobilising officers who would be working with trusts.

“We were looking at issues of sustainability of the campaign as well as to encourage the trusts to not only focus on issues of environment conservation but we wanted them to also take cognizant of health issues,” he added.

If the arrangement became successful, he said, they would roll it to other community trusts in the region considering that some areas were not accessible.

Meanwhile the tobacco campaign would run until March next year.  ENDS