Bontle Mbongwe of the Faculty of Health Sciences said yesterday that government should hike tobacco prices and tax to curb consumption. She said the move is in line with the requirements of Article Six of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). The article recognises that price and tax measures are an effective and important means of reducing tobacco consumption by various segments of the population, in particular young persons.
Mbongwe said it is time government gave tobacco control priority given the harm tobacco visits on peoples' health, the economy, the environment and the overall productivity of the nation. The anti-tobacco activist said the special levy could help rebuild lives destroyed by tobacco use. She was briefing the media yesterday on the just ended fourth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP4) held in Uruguay almost a week back. She said a punitive levy would be useful to help Botswana to effectively implement other obligations of the Convention such as Articles 12 and 14 of the FCTC. Article 12 focuses on education, communication, training and public awareness, while Article 14 advocates for demand reduction measures based tobacco dependence. Article 14 requires parties to implement effective programmes to promote the cessation of tobacco use as well as establish health care facilities and rehabilitation centres for diagnosis, counselling, preventing and treating tobacco dependence.
