Maiden smokers� surveillance underway

Baboki Kayawe | Tuesday January 17, 2017 15:35

 

The ministry of health is undertaking the survey in collaboration with Statistics Botswana, Centre for Disease Control and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“The survey will help determine the number of smokers as well as to enhance Botswana’s capacity to design, implement, and evaluate tobacco control and prevention programmes as well as fulfill the country’s obligations under the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC),” further says the statement from the ministry.

The GATS enables countries to collect data on adult tobacco use and key tobacco control measures.

The FCTC, which Botswana is signatory to, is the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO. It was adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2003 and entered into force in 2005. It has since become one of the most rapidly and widely embraced treaties in the United Nations history.

It was developed in response to the globalisation of the tobacco epidemic and is an evidence-based treaty that reaffirms the right of all people to the highest standard of health. The Convention represents a milestone for the promotion of public health and provides new legal dimensions for international health cooperation. The fieldwork or data collection for this survey will be conducted in all districts in the country and the enumerators would visit selected households.