Africa News

Sierra Leone becomes 38th country with tobacco control laws in WHO African Region

Sierra Leone is now the newest of 38 countries in the WHO African region to have enacted a bill into law to protect its population against the harmful effects of tobacco and nicotine products. The Tobacco and Nicotine Control Act of 2022 was unanimously passed into law on 3 August 2022 by the country’s...

Dealers make tidy profits selling nicotine pouches despite ban

The sale of liquid nicotine and e-cigarettes has continued unabated despite a ban, with dealers making double-digit profits riding on the restriction. Anti-tobacco advocates and the National Parents Association(NPA) have also raised the alarm over the high number of school-going children who are getting hooked on smokeless tobacco products such as vapes, vaporisers, vape pens,...

Let’s stop tobacco firms’ exploitation of our children

In many markets, policies that ban tobacco advertising through traditional media have forced the industry to focus on the point-of-sale (POS) as a critical channel to promote their products. In Kenya, the law prohibits virtually all forms of advertising and promotion of tobacco products. Although sponsorship by the tobacco industry is not completely prohibited,...

One in 10 African adolescents still uses tobacco, says WHO

The World Health Organisation Regional Office for Africa in Brazzaville, Congo said one in every 10 African adolescents still use tobacco despite 24 African countries instituting bans on smoking in public places. The global health agency also noted that while 35 African countries have banned tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship, the continent continues to have...

Shisha: The Irresistable Lethal Killer Wrapped In Flavour

Well flavoured with molasses sugar or fruit like apple, plum, coconut, mango, mint, strawberry, which makes the smoke more aromatic than cigarette smoke, but the dangers of smoking shisha is increasing by the day, as more teenagers descend into the cesspool of the addiction, TUNDE OGUNTOLA writes. Just a few months ago, five female students...

Kenyan farmers swap tobacco for beans

Over 100 Kenyan tobacco farmers took part in a government-backed project to plant sustainable crops instead of the more usual tobacco plants. Their first harvest so far already yielded 135 tons of high-iron beans. Some 100 Kenyan farmers were part of a pilot project to help farmers transition from tobacco to alternative food crop farming. The...

NTA Report: Health Ministry Programs On Tobacco Use Underfunded

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 8 – A recent report by the National Taxpayers Association says the Ministry of Health’s programmes involved in tobacco control are grossly underfunded, which means they cannot effectively fight the vice. According to the study, the Tobacco Control Board and Division of Noncommunicable diseases (NCD), are consistently underfunded. The survey showed that the...

“I am a threat to tobacco”-Advocate

In 2009, Mrs. Margaret Kwaada Julius, a 47-year-old grandmother became a tobacco advocate by chance. Stumbling on the information that, “tobacco kills half its users’’ further reinforced her resolve to dedicate quality time to sensitizing people on the harmful effects of the deadly substance on health and the environment. Presently she says, “I am a...

Tobacco use wanes in West, grows in Africa

Research is pointing to growing tobacco use in Africa while the reverse is true elsewhere. This is as worrying as it’s perplexing, considering the sustained anti-tobacco use campaigns carried out on the continent by lobbies. In a University of Chicago report, researchers who created a Tobacco Atlas after surveying 63 countries say there are more than a...

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