Tobacco.org

• TReND publishes supplement on tobacco-related inequalities in low- and middle-income countries 

The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Tobacco Research Network on Disparities (TReND), funded by the NCI and Legacy, are pleased to announce the release of Research to Reduce Global Tobacco Inequalities, a special supplement to the journal Cancer Causes and Control, published in March 2012.

“A great challenge we face is changing the way public health policies address global health inequalities,” said Dr. Donna Vallone, co-editor of the supplement and Senior Vice President for Research and Evaluation at Legacy. “This extensive collection of manuscripts hopes to serve those who are in power to influence change that will make a difference.”

This supplement includes 11 new studies focusing on the burden of tobacco-related inequalities in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) in Latin America, Asia, and Africa, many of which have been targeted by the tobacco industry’s deceptive marketing practices. Examples include:

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• WHO conference puts cigarette manufacturers on notice 

TOBACCO Companies in Africa should brace themselves for tough times after the world leading names in tobacco control pledged to increase funding towards eradication of what they termed as the "killer industry".

While making his remarks during the official closing of the 15th Wold Conference on Tobacco and Health, New York City Mayor and philanthropist Michael Bloomberg announced that he will commit an additional $220 million to the global fight against tobacco use, bringing his total commitment to more than $600 million. . . .

The WHO chief termed tobacco industries "ruthless and devious enemy" whose products "kill nearly 6 million people each year". "This conference is being held at a time when we are at a crossroads in our efforts to rid the world of a killing addiction," she said. "In principle, the balance is entirely in our favour." But she warned: ''Tobacco industry has changed its face and tactics. The ''wolf '' is no longer in sheep's clothing, and its teeth are bared."

While citing Kenya as an example where tobacco companies have made 'direct' interferences with a country's internal affairs by trying to lure legislatures, the WHO chief emphasised on the need for coalitions of civil society to spearhead the fight. "Experience has shown that when government wing weakens under industry pressure, coalitions of civil society can take up the slack and carry the day," she said. "We need this kind of outcry, this kind of rage."

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Invited commentary -- Mbongwe 21 (2): 94 -- Tobacco Control 

• Cost effectiveness of strategies to combat cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and tobacco use in sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia: mathematical modelling study [FREE FULL TEXT] 

Objective To determine the relative costs and health effects of interventions to combat cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and tobacco related disease in order to guide the allocation of resources in developing countries. . . .

Main outcome measures Cost per disability adjusted life year (DALY) averted, expressed in international dollars ($Int) for the year 2005.

Results Most of the interventions studied were considered highly cost effective, meaning they generate one healthy year of life at a cost of <$Int2000 (which is the gross domestic product per capita of the two regions considered here). Interventions that offer particularly good monetary value, and which could be considered for prioritised implementation or scale up, include demand reduction strategies of the Framework Convention for Tobacco Control (<$Int950 and <$Int200 per DALY averted in AfrE and SearD respectively); combination drug therapy for people with a >25% chance of experiencing a cardiovascular event over the next decade, either alone or together with specific multidrug regimens for the secondary prevention of post-acute ischaemic heart disease and stroke (<$Int150 and <$Int230 per DALY averted in AfrE and SearD respectively); and retinopathy screening and glycaemic control for patients with diabetes (<$Int2100 and <$Int950 per DALY averted in AfrE and SearD respectively).

Conclusion This comparative economic assessment has identified a set of population-wide and individual strategies for prevention and control of cardiovascular disease that are inexpensive and cost effective in low resource settings.

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Swiss see hike in Africa tobacco smuggling  

Swizerland has seen a large-scale hike in cigarette-smuggling from Africa where prices are 10 times cheaper, a senior customs official said Wednesday.

A number of passengers arriving from Senegal have been found to be carrying 100 to 300 cartons of cigarettes in their luggage, Geneva regional customs director Jerome Coquoz told reporters.

"A carton is sold in Senegal for the equivalent of 7.5 Swiss francs (6.2 euros or 8.1 dollars) while it is worth 76 Swiss francs in Switzerland," he said.

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Tobacco Control in Africa 

‘Tobacco use in Sub-Saharan Africa is growing rapidly as a result of strong economic growth and the aggressive marketing tactics of tobacco multinationals. Although the policy interventions are well understood, the political economy of tobacco control in Sub-Saharan Africa is not, and this volume is a timely addition to the literature, offering the most comprehensive review of the political economy of tobacco control in Sub-Saharan Africa yet. The attention to detail in the 12 country case studies – representing diverse linguistic, geographic, political, legal and developmental environments – sets new standards for tobacco control research on the continent.’ —Dr Evan Blecher, International Tobacco Control Research Program, American Cancer Society

This volume presents the work initiated and executed under the African Tobacco Situational Analyses (ATSA), a recent major public health initiative sponsored by the Canadian government’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Conceived to illuminate the factors that will facilitate the reform of Africa’s major public health policies, this program focused particularly (but not exclusively) on policies concerning tobacco. The results, presented in this book, are an important contribution to the literature on global public health and international development, and comprise the most comprehensive evidence-based analysis of tobacco policy in the African region.

The country-level analyses of this study examine topics such as smoking prevalence, the status of relevant smoking-related policies, and the politics of public health policy reform – as well as the role played by the tobacco industry in each of these key areas.

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Anti-smoking groups work on new, strict law 

The anti-tobacco activist Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA), in conjunction with the Makerere University’s School of Public Health, is planning to push for stern legislation to regulate the growing consumption of tobacco.

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• Tobacco to kill one billion people 

The Tobacco diseases epidemic is already with us in Africa’’ says Prof Peter Odhiambo, Chairman of Kenya Tobacco Control Board. ‘’Soon you will hear people announcing that the epidemic is coming to Africa. It is already here. I treat the victims of tobacco every day.’’ He was speaking in Kampala on Nov. 1 at a public lecture entitled ‘The journey from the Farm to the Lungs: Who gains from Tobacco in Africa?’ at the inauguration of the new regional Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA) to be hosted by Uganda. . . .

In a study conducted at Mulago, Uganda’s national referral hospital, 75% of patients with oral cancer had a history of smoking, with the number of years of smoking ranging from 2-33 years, according to a 2008 study report by Fredrick Musoke of Makerere University Kampala.

Almost a quarter of Ugandan males (22%) aged between 15 and 49% are smokers while 4% of females are smokers, according to the 2006 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey.

Exposure to second hand smoke increases the risk of heart disease by 25-30% and the lung cancer risk by 20-30%. . . .

In August, British American Tobacco (BAT) Uganda, announced that cigarette sales had gone up by 29% in Uganda compared to a similar period in 2010.

BAT argues that tobacco is a leading tax revenue payer and that the livelihoods of 600,000 tobacco farmers, particularly in Arua District in the West Nile region, where BAT runs an out-growers programme, depend on it. BAT also argues that it is an important export for the country. . . .

According to Rachel Kitonyo, a Kenyan working with the Africa Tobacco Control Consortium based in Lome in Togo, Uganda is out of step with other East African countries Tanzania and Kenya which passed a tobacco control law in 2007.

Uganda is yet to pass a tobacco control law although a Bill has been in the works for the past few years with a draft announced in 2010. The Ugandan parliament is now set to discuss the Bill.

The resurrection of the Bill was disclosed on November 1, 2011

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Honest Feedback, Advocating for transparency, 2007-2011 [Kindle Edition] 

This second edition emphasizes the need for transparency and the 5 years spent advocating for better practices in the management of the grants awarded by the Bloomberg and Gates Foundation to promote tobacco control in Africa. Unfortunately those efforts have failed and the dates chosen also express the end of the author's attempt to convince two big foundations and their partners/grantees to embrace public transparency and accountability.

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• If you fear AIDS, fear tobacco even more 

“The tobacco diseases epidemic is already with us in Africa,” says Prof Peter Odhiambo, chairman of the Kenya Tobacco Control Board.

“I treat the victims of tobacco everyday.”

Prof Odhiambo was speaking at Kampala Serena hotel on November 1, 2011, at a public lecture titled, ‘The Journey from the Farm to the Lungs: Who gains from Tobacco in Africa?’

Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of death in the world today. Tobacco use claims more lives globally than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), unless urgent action is taken, tobacco could kill one billion people during this century. WHO data also shows that in comparison to HIV/AIDS which claimed three million lives globally last year, tobacco deaths were nearly six million cases.

It is estimated that by 2030 tobacco-related illnesses will be the leading cause of death in the world and 70-80% of these deaths will occur in low-income countries. . . .

However, the threat posed by second-hand smoking is said to affect almost a half of all youths in Uganda and is a much more mainstream public health threat in Uganda. Exposure to second-hand smoke increases the risk of heart disease by 25-30% and the lung cancer risk by 20-30%.

Smoking has been banned in public places, including in bars and restaurants, in Uganda since 2004, although enforcement is still a challenge. The Ugandan tobacco industry argues that tobacco is economically important to Uganda given that the industry is a leading taxpayer.

“It is not the tobacco companies which pay tobacco taxes; it is the smokers,’’ counters Dr Sheila Ndyanabangi, who argues that taxes on tobacco are simply passed on to consumers and that the healthcare costs of treating tobacco-related diseases far outweigh the economic benefits of the tobacco industry.

According to Rachel Kitonyo of The Africa Tobacco Control Consortium, Uganda is out of step with other East African countries such as Tanzania and Kenya which passed a tobacco control law in 2007.

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Smoking, A Deadly Habit 

Almost everyone who smokes has uttered these words if not a few times, then at least once - "I would like to stop but I just can't, it is just so difficult and I have tried so many times but I just can't."

Others in denial have even gone as far as saying "Well, I am not addicted, I can stop any time I want," reports Namibian Press Agency (Nampa).

The fact is that they are lying to themselves. . . .

So even if you can't give up for yourself, hard as it may be, how about doing it for those around you, especially your children.

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• Tobacco a leading cause of sickness, says Health Minister  

Youngsters who smoke might soon suffer from cancers, heart attack and other diseases because tobacco is a major cause of ill-health, the Ministry of Health has warned.

A report from the Ministry shows that there is an increase in smoking among the youth and that nicotine in tobacco shortens the users’ lifespan by 14 years.

Health Minister Christine Ondoa said there is need to protect the youth through a joint action to control tobacco use nationwide.

“No country can afford the luxury of sending mixed signals to the population on a matter that affects a huge portion of the population like that of tobacco,” she said at the launch of the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA) in Wakiso District on Tuesday.

The facility based at Kasangati Health Centre will serve five countries in the Great Lakes region and is aimed at campaigning for reduction of tobacco use by supporting governments in implementing tobacco control strategies in Africa. “Africa is at an early stage of the tobacco epidemic with the prevalence of tobacco smoking among the youth ranging from 8 to 43 per cent for boys and 5 to 30 per cent for girls,” a study by CTCA indicates.

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Tobacco Control in Africa - TCA 

September 04, 2011

CTFK awards a $300K grant to the Association pour la Défense des Droits des Consommateurs (ADC) to promote tobacco control in 5 French speaking countries . . .

September 02, 2011

African Tobacco Control Advocates on Facebook

Now on Facebook, 2 new pages: African Tobacco Control and African Journalists Against Tobacco

The Gates Foundation gives $18 million to the Bloomberg Family Foundation with a special emphasis on tobacco control in Africa

Visiting the site of the Gates Foundation for tobacco control projects (scroll on the right to recent grants), I found this information, without any additional detail (for now).

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• Activists decry tobacco promotion in Africa 

Human rights activists, health practitioners and journalists have expressed dismay and horror over African governments’ stand to promote and campaign for tobacco growing and smoking saying such acts aimed at killing people especially the youth who are targeted by tobacco dealers.

Speaking at a two-day tobacco control journalists’ workshop organised by Health-e News Service and The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK) in Johannesburg, South Africa recently, they said deliberate campaigns propagated by African governments and tobacco companies under the pretext of increasing the economy without assessing its devastating effects associated with tobacco left a lot to be desired.

Presenting a paper on “What is the tobacco industry doing in Africa”, executive director for Tanzania Tobacco Control Forum, Lutgard Kokulinda Kagaruki, said some statements made by government officials at different forums and podiums supporting tobacco farming and use on grounds that it was a major foreign exchange earner was not fair and aimed at environmental destruction and harming people especially the youth who were the main target group of the tobacco industry.

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• “Ghana must speed up legislation on tobacco”- Patricia Lambert 

Ms Patricia Lambert, Director of International Legal Consortium for Campaign for Tobacco - Free Kids, has urged the Government of Ghana to consider the health of her people and speed up the tobacco control legislation.

"Government has the sovereign right and duty to protect the life of all citizens" she stated.

Ms Lambert was speaking at an international media capacity building workshop in Johannesburg on Saturday, to sharpen the media's efforts to respond to the growing threats of tobacco use in Africa.

The workshop is expected to equip the media to generate awareness of the increasing health burden in the various countries in Africa due to the damaging effects of tobacco products consumption.

The workshop was organized by Health-e, a media organization in South Africa, in collaboration with Campaign for Tobacco - Free Kids, a Non Governmental Organisation (NGO).

Journalist will also be given the modus operandi of the tobacco industry as it increasingly focuses on Africa as a lucrative market, as well as the myths peddled around tobacco farming.

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