Botswana prepares to implement new ‘life-saving’ restrictions on tobacco

Proposed tobacco control regulations in Botswana that would place restrictions on the sale and marketing of tobacco – including heated tobacco products – but leave vaping products unencumbered have been hailed by public health experts and groups as “life-saving”.

The regulations implementing the country’s Tobacco Control Act of 2021 are not yet finalised but are in an advanced stage of development, having already been published in the country’s official gazette at the end of October. Malebogo Letswee, principal health officer in the Botswana Ministry of Health, said that heated tobacco products (HTPs) would be regulated by the act since they “usually use tobacco”.