Speaking during a media workshop this week, Mbongwe argued that tobacco use impacted on health, poverty, malnutrition, education and the environment.She said government therefore needed to recognise tobacco control as a key component of efforts to reduce poverty, improve development and progress towards achieving millennium development goals.Low and middle-income countries, she said, are most affected as household income is often used to buy tobacco products.
In Botswana, she said, some people were failing to feed their families or improve their lives from their Ipelegeng income, which stands at P465. This is worsened by the fact that some hawkers give cigarette sticks on credit to buyers. With a stick costing P2 some smokers report to be taking 10 sticks on credit per day, which amounts to P20 a day. In a month, such a smoker pays about P600 towards tobacco consumption from an already restrained budget. Mbongwe argued that this proves that tobacco consumes a high percentage of household income most needed for food, healthcare, education and other priorities.
