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
