The Anti Tobacco Network in collaboratioon with the Ministry of Health recently held back-to-back: One for the media and NGOs and the other for Health Professionals. Target group for the first workshop was the media (15) (both public and private) and non-governmental (10) organizations who have similar interests as ATN. The second workshop targeted 30 health professionals from private and government hospitals.
The media, NGO and health professionals’ workshops were planned to
engage and bring on board the media, NGOs and health professionals as partners
of ATN, MOH and WHO country office in sensitizing Batswana on the harms of
tobacco and helping the government to implement the WHO Framework Convention of
Tobacco Control (FCTC).
Objectives
The workshops are in line with a series of other
activities funded by the ACS and aim to achieve the following objectives:
1 To familiarize the media, health professionals and
NGOs on the provisions of the FCTC, the Control of Smoking Act (CSA) and the
tactics used by the tobacco industry to interfere with Government’s efforts to
control tobacco (Article 5.3).
2 To increase the level of awareness on tobacco control
and its impact on health, the economy
and the environment.
3 To prepare for the upcoming I Don’t Want To Be a Walking Billboard (A campaign countering
advertising in indirect ways by the tobacco industry.)
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| WHO Country Office - Mr Moagi Gaborone opening the workshop |
| Dr. Bontle Mbongwe presenting on the Health Effects of Tobacco use. Dr.
Mbongwe stressed out the fact that tobacco use is unequivocally linked with
underdevelopment and poverty. Two-thirds of the poor
nations for which data were available had male smoking rates above the average
35% prevalence rate for the developed world. (WHO2004 estimates).
The poor
are most likely to smoke. Tobacco use negatively affects important development
objectives such as health, nutrition, employment and gender equality. Money
spent on tobacco consumption reduces the amount of money available to spend on
food, healthcare, shelter and education. |
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| FCTC Presentation made by Mr. Moagi Gaborone - WHO Botswana |
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| Botswana Substance Abuse (BOSASNet) representative making a comment |
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 Mr Ephraim Rapalai of the Ministry of Health Tobacco control unit making a presentation of the tobacco legislation in Botswana  Botswana Press Agency (BOPA) represenatives and Press 24 Tv representative (Holding Camera) |
