31 Aug 2023

Botswana has noted her concern with the somewhat slow response by member states of the WHO Africa Region to effectively implement the 2010 strategy that called for the reduction of the harmful use of alcohol and its attributable diseases.

The concern was raised by the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr Onalenna Seitio-Kgokgwe when presenting the country’s support on the framework for implementing the Global Alcohol Action Plan for the region for the period 2022-2030 at  the ongoing RC73 in Gaborone.

Dr Seitio-Kgokgwe said so far only nine countries were reported to be ‘having an entity for that purpose’, despite the WHO Africa Region reported to be having the highest aged-standardized alcohol-attributable burden of disease and injury at 70.6 deaths per 100 000 people.

“Botswana has long been concerned about the harmful use of alcohol and psychoactive substances, especially amongst the youth. The harm associated with their use poses a serious risk to people’s lives and livelihoods,” she said.

Dr Seitio-Kgokgwe said in response to that, the country introduced some interventions that consisted of many strategies targeting availability and access, social and health problems and the provision of services to persons with substance use disorders.

“Progress has been made with some interventions that include legislation on licensing and operation of alcohol outlets, regulation of traditional beers and a levy to reduce demand for alcoholic beverages,” she said.

Furthermore, Dr Seitio-Kgokgwe said a National Alcohol Policy was introduced with the intention to address issues of alcohol both at individual and community or societal level.

She said all the interventions being undertaken have been incorporated into the Strategic Plan for Alcohol and Substance Use, which has been developed in collaboration with the relevant partners.

Dr Seitio-Kgokgwe said after putting all these measures in place, Botswana experienced an increase in people who sought treatment for addiction.

“In order to deal with this complex and multifaceted matter, the country continues to build capacity and service availability through training addiction professionals on treatment and prevention of substance use,” she said.

She said drinking and driving counter measures continue to be implemented through random breadth testing by law enforcement officers, and  testing drivers after they were involved in road accidents.

Dr Seitio-Kgokgwe said considering all that, Botswana noted the report of the secretariat on the implementation of the strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol, and therefore endorsed its recommendations.

She said the country also supported the Global Alcohol Action Plan to strengthen the implementation of the strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. ENDS