ATN is a non-governmental, non-profit making organization legally registered by the Registrar of Societies on April 7, 2011. Currently based at the University of Botswana, ATN recognizes tobacco use as the contributory factor to ill health and premature deaths in the developing world. Tobacco consumption is also a risk factor for cancers, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, which according to the World Health Organisation, are claiming lives among low-income groups in developing countries. In addition to the long-term health risks, tobacco use among low-income groups can have immediate, insidious effects, such as the diversion of scarce family resources from beneficial uses to the harmful use of tobacco.