The National Council Standing Committee on Health, Social Welfare and Labour Affairs has commenced an investigative visit to selected schools in the Otjozondjupa Region.

The purpose is to assess the use of hubbly bubbly and other tobacco-related products among learners and their impact on their health.

The delegation paid a visit to the Otjozondjupa governor, where they were received by Health Director Gebhardo Timotheus.

Timotheus informed the delegation that Otjozondjupa is one of the largest regions, with a population of over 220,000 people, of whom the majority are young people.

He said this demographic makes it important for stakeholders to strengthen efforts to protect the youth from harmful effects of substances such as hubbly-bubbly.

Health Director for the Otjozondjupa Region, Gebhardo Timotheus, stresses, "A substance that is being abused by the youth causes a lot of challenges, especially destroying the youth's health, and also it affects their performance in schools."

The committee's chairperson, Joseph Sikongo, said there is an urgent need to rescue Namibian children from toxic substances. 

"This thing is serious among the communities, and some of them are even giving us a recommendation. The recommendation that they are giving is that maybe we desire a time now that we have to be with things everywhere we get, everywhere we go. They are recommending to us that this thing have to be banned."

The principal of Donatus Secondary School, Udo Behnke, said that though hubbly bubbly is not taking place on the school premises, they find learners in possession of chuffs and vapes about every third week.

"Many years ago, we had many terribly addicted learners. I can remember a guy whose name starts with a B. The police came and loaded them in the van, and they went to the supplier's house to check."

The regular confiscation of vaping devices remains a concern, says the teacher at the school, Andy Kandjimi. 

"As we know, we cannot root out this thing at all, but we really try from our side. What we do is sometimes we conduct an unannounced search with our prefects we have at school that we announce that a certain lesson after or towards the end of the day without letting us know when we check in the bag and so on."

The investigative visit forms part of the committee's ongoing work to determine the prevalence of Hubbly Bubbly use and its associated health effects among learners. 

The committee will compile its findings into a report to be tabled in the National Council to help inform future policies and interventions aimed at addressing tobacco-related product use among learners.