Botswana: The Ministry of Youth, Gender, Sport and Culture recently held an Anti-doping stakeholders engagement. The event was hosted in collaboration with the Botswana National Olympic Committee at Travel Lodge hotel.
The meeting, with the support of the Botswana National Olympics Committee sought to promote fair and sustainable sporting practices. The authorities sought to encourages the sportspersons to make sure that they are not utilizing any illegal means to win any games.
Th use of steroid and doping is expressly banned In sports disciplines as it allows the competing sportsperson to gain an unwarranted advantage over the rest of their competition. Further, doping and prolonged steroid use can lead to many health complications which can continue to affect the people in the long run.
The officials of the Olympics committee and Ministry of Sports have shared that they are dedicated to weeding out the problem of doping. The workshop was part of this mandate for the people
The workshop was geared towards the presentation of the ongoing anti-doping policy establishment. The workshop was attended by different sports committees such as the; Department of Sport Science-University of Botswana, Women and Sports Botswana (WASBO) and World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
The role of the organization stakeholders was to draw a contextualized national anti- doping policy. This means that that can assist Botswana athletes to develop sober and healthier habits towards competitive sport.
The Lead Consultant from the Department of Sport Science; University of Botswana, Dr Lobone Kasale presented the overall framework of the Anti-Doping Policy tackling topics of;
- Key specific areas an anti doping policy must address
- Their findings about national policy making
- Customizing international anti-doping policies to fit Botswana’s specific context.
- Available strategies to be used aiming to implement the policy.
The last phase of the workshop was a practical interactive group discussion with various stakeholders interchanging ideas on how these policies can be bettered and implemented to gratify a long-term goal for the wellbeing of athletes while shielding the integrity of Botswana’s sports associations.