Anti Tobacco Network Executive Director, Professor Bontle Mbongwe called for Botswana to place greater emphasis on preventive health during her address to the Mabutsane Full Council this morning, warning that the country cannot afford to wait until people are sick before acting.
Botswana already carries a significant burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), with NCDs estimated to account for 46% of deaths in the country. Tobacco use is one of the major preventable risk factors contributing to this burden, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Professor Mbongwe argued that, at a time when the country is facing challenges in providing medicines, investing in prevention makes both public health and economic sense.
โPreventive health is everything. It is not medication that should be our most important focus. If we invest in tobacco control and prevent people from becoming sick in the first place, fewer people will need medication, fewer people will need hospital care, and government will spend less treating diseases that could have been prevented.โ
She said tobacco control should therefore be viewed not only as a health intervention, but also as an investment in reducing the future burden on Botswanaโs health system and national health bill.
The concern, she said, is particularly urgent because tobacco and nicotine use is reaching young people. Findings from Botswanaโs 2024 Global School Health Survey indicate that around 12% of school-going children use tobacco products, while 11.1% reported using electronic cigarettes.
โToday, NCDs are no longer diseases that we can think of as belonging only to older people. We are seeing the risk factors being introduced much earlier in life. If young people start using tobacco and nicotine products today, we are effectively creating a future generation that could enter adulthood with a much higher risk of developing NCDs,โ she said.
Professor Mbongwe warned that the tobacco industry has also shifted towards newer nicotine products, including vapes and electronic cigarettes, which are often deceptively promoted as safer alternatives to conventional cigarettes.
She said attractive packaging, flavours, social media promotion and other marketing strategies can make these products particularly appealing to young people, while parents may not always recognize them as nicotine products.
โThe industry has changed its products and its tactics. We must change our response as well. We all need to understand what these products look like and how young people are being targeted,โ she said.
She warned that gaps in implementing Botswanaโs tobacco control framework could give the industry opportunities to exploit emerging products and marketing channels. The Tobacco Control Act, 2021 was designed to strengthen protection from tobacco-related harm, including controls on advertising, promotion, packaging and exposure to tobacco smoke.
She therefore called for the regulations required to fully operationalize the Act to be signed and implemented without further delay.
โGovernment must invest in prevention today if we want to reduce the health bill tomorrow. Tobacco control is prevention. Every young person we prevent from becoming addicted to nicotine is potentially one less person requiring treatment for a tobacco-related disease in the future.โ
She also urged councilors to recognize and respond to tobacco industry tactics, including attempts to influence public officials and the promotion of new nicotine products to young people.
For Botswana, she said, the choice should be clear: invest in prevention now, rather than paying a much higher price for avoidable illness later.
