26/08/2026
BOTSWANA MUST INVEST IN PREVENTION TO REDUCE THE NCD BURDEN
Addressing the Mabutsane Full Council this morning, Anti To***co Network Executive Director, Professor Bontle Mbongwe called for Botswana to place greater emphasis on preventive health, warning that the country cannot afford to wait until people are sick before taking action.
Botswana already carries a significant burden of Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), with NCDs estimated to account for 46% of deaths in the country. To***co 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.
“Preventative health is everything. It is not medication that should be our most important focus. If we invest in to***co 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.”
She said to***co control should therefore be viewed not only as a health intervention, but also as an investment in reducing the future burden on Botswana’s health system and national health bill.
The concern, she said, is particularly urgent because to***co and ni****ne use is reaching young people. Findings from Botswana’s 2024 Global School Health Survey indicate that around 12% of school going children use to***co products, while 11.1% reported using electronic ci******es.
“Today, 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 to***co and ni****ne products today, we are effectively creating a future generation that could enter adulthood with a much higher risk of developing NCDs,” she said.
Professor Mbongwe warned that the to***co industry has also shifted towards newer ni****ne products, including vapes and electronic ci******es, which are often deceptively promoted as safer alternatives to conventional ci******es.
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 recognise them as ni****ne products.
“The 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,” she said.
She further warned that gaps in the implementation of Botswana’s to***co control framework could provide opportunities for the industry to exploit emerging products and marketing channels. The To***co Control Act, 2021 was designed to strengthen protection from to***co related harm, including controls on advertising, promotion, packaging and exposure to to***co smoke.
She therefore called for the regulations required to fully operationalise the Act to be signed and implemented without further delay.
“Government must invest in prevention today if we want to reduce the health bill tomorrow. To***co control is prevention. Every young person we prevent from becoming addicted to ni****ne is potentially one less person requiring treatment for a to***co related disease in the future.”
She also urged councillors to recognise and respond to to***co industry tactics, including attempts to influence public officials and the promotion of new ni****ne 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.
***conetwork ***coControlAct2021
