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 and potential smokers the health risks associated with the consumption of tobacco and its products, and called on health authorities to accelerate full implementation of the policy.
The 3rd series of graphic health warnings which were to come into force on 12 June 2023 is still awaited. The Minister for Health was supposed to sign the decision to rotate the images in September 2022, but this is yet to happen. Cigarette packs in Cameroon carry the first round of pictures since pictorial health warnings were introduced in Cameroon. They have been in use for more than 24 months, in violation of the provisions of the regulation of 03 January 2018, which set the duration of a series of images at 24 months.
In the meantime, British American Tobacco (BAT) is working hard to obtain marketing authorisation for its new nicotine-based products, which it presents as an alternative and a solution to conventional cigarettes.
Source: ATCA
