Civil society organisations (CSOs) in health led by Vision for Alternative Development (VALD) have called on government to come out with explicit commitment and plan to achieve zero prevalence of tobacco use in Ghana. They further called for a clearly stated government target date within a maximum of two decades to tobacco endgame. Mr Issah Ali,...
The Vision for Alternative Development, Ghana (VALD-Ghana), in conjunction with some civil society organizations, have petitioned Parliament to quickly pass the Tobacco Excise Duty Amendment Bill, 2023. The CSOs noted that the passage of the Excise Duty Amendment Bill will curb the excessive consumption of tobacco, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages, which causes diseases and death. The...
South Africa is set to see some major changes to tobacco, vape and cannabis smoking this year with a handful of new regulations in the pipeline. New bills relating to smoking form part of the 42 bills before Parliament, which include a mix of consequential, medium-level and minor legislation, said the Parliamentary Monitoring Group (PMG). The PMG...
Finance minister Enoch Godongwana has announced that taxes on cigarettes and alcohol will be raised in 2023 – but lovers of sugary drinks will catch a break. Delivering his 2023 budget speech, the minister said that no major tax developments were being announced for 2023, at least on the budget’s revenue side. This was due to...
This week, technical experts from the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Revenue Authorities, Ministries of Health in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar and WHO Country Office are meeting to deep dive into tobacco taxation - the most effective and most cost-effective measure to reduce tobacco consumption. Through technical assistance from the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco...
Increasing use of e-cigarettes has posed challenges to tobacco control in Kenya, a major tobacco control organization in the country said, calling for effective regulations over e-cigarettes and other tobacco substitutes. According to Thomas Lindi, the coordinator of the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance — a non-governmental organization fighting the use of tobacco in Kenya —...
Technical experts from the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Revenue Authorities, Ministries of Health in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar and WHO Country Office met to deep dive into tobacco taxation - the most effective and most cost-effective measure to reduce tobacco consumption. Through technical assistance from the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Knowledge...
There have been repeated campaigns, warning and awareness programmes by health experts, advocacy groups, non-governmental organisations and government agencies against tobacco consumption due to its adverse health effects. Despite all these, millions of smokers in Nigeria have refused to yield to the warning, while tobacco companies and distributors still smile to the bank with huge...
The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) wants to increase the stamp duty on combustible cigarettes, electronic cigarettes and other nicotine-delivery devices to KES5 ($0.04) from KES2.8, reports The Star. The agency has invited the public to give its views on the proposal by Feb. 3. The move to appears to be in response to President William Ruto’s directive...
Breast Care International (BCI), a member of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), has urged the government to impose high levies on cigarettes, and alcohol to support cancer fight. According to Dr. Beatrice Wiafe-Addai, President of BCI, hefty taxes will discourage the use of cigarettes and alcohol in order to stem the cancer cases...
