This blog is the back up collection of all tobacco control blog posts by Jackie Tumwine written from 2006 to 2009 on the subject of tobacco control and Africa.
The original blog was called “The blog of Jackie Tumwine” ( Tagline: Blogging about tobacco control news and developments in Africa). That blog, which was on a hosted typepad site, has since been made innacessible/ deleted.
Liberia ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on 15th September 2009. Liberia’s ratification brings the total number of FCTC Parties to 167.
Currently 40 of 46 countries in the AFRO region have ratified the FCTC. They include: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Namibia, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Togo, Uganda, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia.
The following 6 out of the 46 countries in the AFRO region have NOT YET ratified or acceded to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC): Cote d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control aims to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke through comprehensive tobacco advertising bans, price and tax increases, health warning labels on tobacco products, measures to protect people from second-hand smoke among other tobacco control strategies.
By Jackie Tumwine
Sao Paulo- Brazil’s most populous city- has banned smoking in public places. Under the law, owners of establishments are liable to fines of up to about $800 for the first two violations. Further violations would lead to temporary closing of the establishments.
The law is strict and only exempts premises that exclusively sell tobacco. Brazil is a party to the WHO Framework convention on tobacco control (FCTC) which enjoins parties to, among other others things, implement measures to protect people from second-hand smoke.
By Jackie Tumwine
Below is the speech of the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr. Luis Sambo, on World No Tobacco Day, May 31, 2009:
Tobacco Health Warnings
Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world. Today, on World No Tobacco Day, we seize the opportunity to remind everyone that more than five million people die from the effects of tobacco every year — this is more than all deaths from HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. It is the only legal consumer product that kills when used exactly as directed by the manufacturer.
Smoked tobacco in any form causes up to 90% of all lung cancers and is a significant risk factor for strokes and fatal heart attacks. Second-hand smoke harms everyone who is exposed to it and has serious and often fatal health consequences such as sudden infant death syndrome. Smokeless tobacco is also highly addictive and causes cancer of the mouth, neck, oesophagus and pancreas as well as many oral diseases. Some forms of smokeless tobacco also increase the risk of heart disease and low-birth-weight in babies.
Through advertising and promotional campaigns, including the use of carefully crafted package designs, the tobacco industry continues to divert attention from the deadly effects of its products.
Article 11 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control requires signatories to carry on all packages “health warnings describing the harmful effects of tobacco use” and recommends that the warnings contain pictures. Nine out of ten people live in countries that do not require warnings with pictures on tobacco packages.
Tobacco health warnings containing both pictures and words are effective in motivating and convincing users to quit and to reduce the appeal of tobacco for those who are not yet addicted. Picture warnings convey a clear and immediate message, even to people who cannot read.
We need therefore to campaign for picture-based health warnings on all tobacco packages. These have been found to work in countries that have required their use. Smokers in those countries said that the warnings made them think more about the health effects of smoking; they made them change their opinion about the health consequences of smoking and also helped them to make efforts to quit. The warnings also made them smoke less and avoid smoking in front of children.
The main message of the 2009 World No Tobacco Day is that health warnings on tobacco packages that combine text and pictures are some of the most cost-effective ways of increasing public awareness of the serious health risks of tobacco use and of reducing tobacco consumption.
In our Region, most of the countries do not mandate package warnings that meet all the criteria for effectiveness. We encourage these countries to adopt tobacco health warnings that meet all the criteria for maximum effectiveness, such as covering more than half of the package with the warning and pictures or placing them on both the front and back of the package.
We hereby appeal to governments and policy makers to require by law that all tobacco products display large picture warnings about the harm caused by tobacco and its many other negative consequences. Your decisions should be based on impartial scientific evidence, not on the claims of the tobacco industry. Tobacco companies oppose strong health warnings, particularly those with pictures. The arguments they use against health warnings are false and should not be relied upon.
We are also calling on civil society and nongovernmental organizations to advocate for picture-based warnings on all tobacco products and to campaign for and help to develop and implement laws that require picture-based warnings on tobacco products.
Finally, we appeal to the public to demand the right to know the whole truth about the dangers of tobacco use and of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke. You should show the example by letting everyone know that you support picture warnings.
Requiring warnings on tobacco packages is a simple, cheap and effective strategy that can greatly reduce tobacco use. Now is the time to act if we are to reverse the tobacco epidemic and save lives.
On 7th November 2008 Guinea Bissau became the 161st Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Guinea Bissau’s ratification of the FCTC brings the total number of Parties from the WHO Afro region to 37 (out of 46).
The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control aims to protect present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to Continue reading
The third session of the Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) will be held in Durban, South Africa, beginning this Monday the 17th until 22nd November 2008. The meeting will attract government delegates from 160 nations that have ratified the FCTC, as well as many NGO delegates. Several issues concening the implementation of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control will be up for discussion.
Hot on the agenda will be: Continue reading
The Namibian Cabinet has given the Ministry of Health the go ahead to table the long-awaited Tobacco Products Control Bill in the National Assembly soon, reports the Namibian Newspaper.
Full story:
Namibia: Tobacco Control Law Coming Soon
CABINET has given the Ministry of Health the green light to table the long-awaited Tobacco Products Control Bill in the National Assembly soon. The Bill aims to make Namibia comply with the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), which requires parties to “adopt and implement effective legislative, executive, administrative and/or other measures for Continue reading
In a bid to clamp down on fires in the upcoming fire season months, the city of Capetown (South Africa) has warned motorists that they will be slapped a fine of R1000 for throwing burning cigarette butts or matches out of vehilce windows.
Full story: Source: iol.co.za 10 November 2008 By Michelle Jones
Smoking motorists beware
The city of Cape Town has warned that it will be tough on motorists caught flinging burning cigarette butts or matches out of car windows in the coming fire-season months. Butts and matches have caused hundreds of fires and Fire and Rescue station commander Denzel Ramedies said a R1000 fine would be issued to anyone caught throwing burning cigarette stompies or matches on the ground.
He said high winds and dry vegetation during the dry summer season made the Western Cape more prone to the risk of fires spreading rapidly and becoming uncontrollable. “Everyone has a role to play in minimising the risk. The city calls on all motorists to make use of the ashtrays in their vehicle to dispose of matches and cigarette butts,” Ramedies said. He said the intention of the campaign, launched last year, was not to fine people but to encourage them to police themselves.
Working on Fire’s national co-ordinator, Michelle Kleinhans, said the initiative was “absolutely wonderful”. “It will definitely stop more fires from starting,” she said. WoF, which co-ordinates teams of firefighters nationwide, responded last year to more than 100 wildfires in the Western Cape, two thirds of which occurred in January and February.
The city amended its fire safety bylaw last year to make it easier to fine people who threw burning butts or matches out of car windows. It is now no longer necessary for the prosecution to prove who tossed out the burning item. Instead, the owner of the vehicle would be fined unless he or she chose to take the matter to court, Ramedies said. If a driver or passenger is spotted throwing burning matches or cigarette butts from a vehicle they may be reported to the city’s 24-hour emergency control centre on 021 424 7715.
“Witnesses are asked to provide their name and contact details when reporting a transgression of the bylaw. Once a case has been reported, a fire department official will contact the complainant to investigate the case,” Ramedies said. The centre will ask for details of where and when the incident occurred, as well as the vehicle registration number and description.
Uganda is to implement within six months, a new warning label on tobacco products, according to the Uganda National Bureau of Standards. The new label will read in English and Swahili: “Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart diseases and death.” It replaces the current health warning: “Cigarette smoking can be harmful to your health.” Although the new warning label is stronger than the current one, it does pose serious limitations- the text is still in English and Swahili- Swahili is not widely spoken in Uganda and many illiterate smokers cannot read English.
Uganda having ratified the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in June 2007, is obligated implement by 2010, tobacco health warning labels that are rotating, large, clear, visible and should cover 50% or more of the principal display areas but shall be no less than 30% of the principal display areas. The FCTC also recommends graphic or pictorial health warnings and these are already being implemented in several countries including Egypt, Brazil, Thailand, Canada and India.
Full story: Source: Afrol news (Norway) 11 November 2008
Uganda steps up anti-smoking campaign
11 November – The government of Uganda, until now seen as soft on the tobacco industry, has announced stronger warnings against smoking will also appear on cigarette packets sold in the country. The new warning, which is to take up a relatively big space on each cigarette packet, is to read: “Cigarette smoking causes lung cancer, heart diseases and death.”
This step towards curbing the tobacco epidemic was announced by the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) as a new compulsory standard for labeling of tobacco products sold in the country. In a letter addressed to the Ministers of Trade and of Health, UNBS Executive Director Dr Terry Kahuma states that the agency intends to start implementing this warning within the next six months. The new, stronger wording is to appear in both English and Swahili and will now replace the old warning “Cigarette smoking can be harmful to your health.” Civil society groups had for a long time criticised health authorities to be too soft on the powerful tobacco industry’s lobby.
They hold that the Uganda Ministry of Health years ago had “negotiated” the current “vague and meaningless” warning with British American Tobacco Uganda Ltd. For much longer than in other comparable countries, this “vague” warning had therefore been maintained. Phillip Karugaba, spokesman of the civil rights group TEAN, commended the UNBS for finally issuing a stronger warning. But, he added, “although it is not to the standards required by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), it is a start. We now have a stronger warning to smokers.”
The FCTC of which Uganda is a signatory requires warning labels to cover between 30 and 50 percent of each cigratte packet. “Countries such as Brazil and Canada have in addition included grotesque pictures of rotting teeth, dead rats and aborted fetuses to effectively warn smokers,” Mr Karugaba reminded Ugandan authorities.
Nigeria’s $44 billion tobacco case against the tobacco companies, Philip Morris, British American Tobacco (BAT) and International Tobacco Ltd has yet again been adjourned, this time round, to January 2009. The reasons are the same as last time- to allow service of court papers to Swiss based Philip Morris International.
Just to recap – the Nigerian government is seeking $44bn in compensation for the costs of treating smoking-related diseases and is accusing the tobacco companies of deliberately promoting smoking among Nigerian youth.
Full story: Source: africa reuters 29 October 2008 By Camillus Eboh
Nigeria adjourns $45 billion tobacco lawsuit to January
ABUJA (Reuters) – A Nigerian court adjourned on Wednesday a 5.3 trillion naira lawsuit brought by the government against three tobacco firms until January so the prosecution can serve court papers on one of the defendants. Nigeria is seeking a sum, roughly twice the size of its annual budget, in damages for public health costs from British American Tobacco, Philip Morris International and Nigerian firm International Tobacco Ltd.
The Nigerian government has accused the firms of targeting young smokers by promoting the sale of individual cigarettes and has asked the court to ban cigarette sales to under-18s and curb advertising aimed at young people. It is seeking 4.8 trillion naira as preventive damages for future expenses for cigarette-related diseases, 136 billion naira as compensation to sick youths, 250 billion naira in restitution and 130 billion naira as punitive damages. Government lawyer Dapo Akinoshun told a Federal High Court in Abuja that Swiss-based Philip Morris had rejected court papers sent on three occasions by courier.
Efforts to publish the summons in a Swiss newspaper had also failed, he said.Philip Morris could not immediately be reached for comment. Akinoshun appealed to be able to serve the papers through the Swiss embassy in Nigeria as a last resort. “The application is granted. The defendant should be served through the diplomatic channel,” Judge Adamu Bello ruled, adjourning the case to January 19. It is the second time that the court has had to adjourn the case so that lawyers could serve Philip Morris.
The case is inspired by U.S. lawsuits in the 1990s that led to multibillion dollar settlements by the tobacco industry. But health campaigners say the Nigerian government does not spend anywhere near the huge amounts it says in the lawsuit on delivering healthcare. Decades of corruption and mismanagement have left Nigeria’s health service in such a bad state that wealthy Nigerians — including President Umaru Yar’Adua — prefer to seek medical attention abroad.
