Africa News

Mauritius is first in Africa to adopt WHO full-scale tobacco control measures

Download logo Mauritius has become the first African country to fully implement the entire World Health Organization’s (WHO) package of tobacco control measures aimed at reducing tobacco use and reducing related deaths. The WHO tobacco control package, called MPOWER Package, is a set of six measures to help countries monitor tobacco use and the...

Angola drives innovation in communicating tobacco control

The smoking epidemic is one of the greatest public health threats the world has ever faced. Tobacco kills an estimated 8 million people yearly, with 1.2 million of those deaths being non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke. The World Health Organization (WHO) works with Member States to assist them in fulfilling their obligations under the terms...

Smoking declines in Namibia

Research carried out by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention indicated a 0.5% decline in smoking habits in Namibia. The statistics report provided to the Ministry of Health and Social Services indicated that 15.10% of the Namibian population are smokers with the highest being active men. A 0.5% decline in smoking was detected from...

Ghana Outlaws Vape Sales and Promotion

Ghana has banned all recreational use of vaping and e-cigarette products. In a press release, the country’s Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) states that the “sale, advertisement and recreational use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) such as vapes and other non-nicotine tobacco products by the public” is illegal. However, ENDS can be registered as a prescription-only...

Tobacco Sector Opposes New Bill, Says It ‘Stops Just Short Of Prohibition’

They say the new bill in its current form is draconian and could see smokers and retailers facing up to 10 years in prison for minor misdemeanors for failing to abide. CAPE TOWN - Tobacco industry players have criticised the Health Department's Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill, saying it stops just short...

Cameroon: C3T continues to push for effective implementation of pictorial health warnings

The Cameroonian Coalition for Tobacco Control (C3T), continues to push for effective implementation of pictorial health warnings in Cameroon where tobacco industry interference and administrative tolerance seem to stall the policy. In a press conference organized on World No Tobacco Day, C3T highlighted that pictorial health warnings makes it possible to effectively show current...

Up in smoke: The black tobacco farmers British American Tobacco left behind

British American Tobacco South Africa (Batsa) has supported small-scale black tobacco farmers with equipment, funding and training since 2011. Some of these farmers in Limpopo feel used. The support dried up with little warning in 2021, leaving many of them in a desperate financial position. Batsa says that the programme was cut down...

E-cigarettes ban, a critical tool in Uganda’s battle against tobacco use

In the face of consistent opposition from the tobacco industry, Uganda is standing firm on its successful eight-year long ban on the sale of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), says World Health Organization (WHO) Country Representative Dr Yonas Tegegn Woldemariam. The Tobacco Control Act, 2015 sought to effectively remove this globally popular tobacco alternative to smoking cigarettes...

New deadline for smoking and vape laws in South Africa

The Portfolio Committee on Health has announced that public consultation on the new Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill will end on 28 July. In a media statement from Parliament, the government said that written submissions on the bill must be emailed to tobaccobill@parliament.gov.za or submitted online at https://forms.gle/FLrhnvThDk8ccLG97. As reported on 22 June, the submission period was originally...

Stakeholders Urge Federal Gov To Enforce Implementation Of New Graphic Health Warnings On Cigarette Packs

The requirement to rigorously abide by and implement the National Tobacco Control Act of 2015 and its Regulations of 2019, both of which call for the placement of graphic health warnings on tobacco packages, has come to the attention of the federal government. The National Tobacco Control Act of 2015 and its Regulations of 2019,...

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