In an article entitled “Year in Review: 2016 in 12 charts and a video”, posted on the World Bank Group website, Tariq Khokar and Donna Barne gave statistics that do not predict better future for Tobacco Control in Africa. According to this review:
- A third of all people were under the age of 20 and the world youngest population are in Africa;
- One third of the world’s 1.8 billion young people are currently either unemployed, uneducated or untrained:
- Most of the world’s extreme poor lived in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-Asia. In Sub-Saharan Africa that represents 4 in 10, equal to 389 million people;
- Tobacco smoking has increased in over 20 countries including 16 in the WHO Afro-region with the higher rates in Lesotho, Mauritania, Congo and Cameroun.
Why is this data important and alarming for tobacco control in Africa?
Young and poor people are likely to be the biggest users of tobacco products and the tobacco industry is well aware of this. They are aggressively marketing in Africa to attract more women and young people. According to the American Cancer Society report, ‘Tobacco Use in Africa: Tobacco Control through Prevention’, because of its massive population and strong economic growth, Africa is poised to become the “future epicenter of the tobacco epidemic”. The report warns that the number of adults in Africa who smoke could increase to 572 million by 2100, from 77 million today, unless leaders take steps to curb current trends.
According to the WHO – Tobacco Free Initiative (WHO | Poverty), Tobacco and poverty have become linked in a vicious circle, through which tobacco exacerbates poverty and poverty is also associated with higher prevalence of tobacco use. Several studies from different parts of the world have shown that smoking and other forms of tobacco use are much higher among the poor.
Illiteracy increases probability to be unemployed which will result in psycho-social and emotional instability and thereby increase the probability to become smokers. It has also been noted that in Sub-Saharan Africa, most young people who are unemployed and not in school become small cigarettes retailers.
2016 and Positive steps for Tobacco Control in Africa
The 2016 review gives Tobacco Control advocates in the Afro-region a much bleak picture for the coming year. Positive steps have been made, like
- the decree 2016-1008 for implementation of the TC Law in Senegal,
- the ratification of the FCTC by Mozambique,
- the passage of the TC law in Gambia,
- the ratification of the Protocol to Eliminate Illicit Trade in tobacco products by 5 countries (Senegal, The Gambia, Swaziland, Comoros and Guinea),
- Pictorial Health Warning in Kenya and many others reasons for celebration and being optimistic.
And if we work to make 2017 a better year for Tobacco Control in Africa?
In 2017, we need to stand strongly against tobacco use in Africa. The African Capacity Building Foundation is ready to play its part. The Foundation will continue to support its various partners and will work with its supported Think Tanks to generate more data and scientific based evidences on harmful effects of tobacco use in Africa, in order to support CSOs advocacy and government actions.
The Foundation will continue to work with other partners towards the implementation of the World Health Organization -Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO-FCTC) which is a comprehensive tool to tackle the tobacco issue in Africa and around the world.
