July 2022
Tobacco kills 30,000 Nigerians every year
Tobacco diseases kill an estimated 30,000 Nigerians yearly despite government initiatives and the Tobacco Monitoring Dashboard collecting data on tobacco control and disease prevalence to help curtail its use. World Health Organisation (WHO) Country Representative Walter Molumbo expressed concern that non-communicable diseases are overtaking communicable diseases in the number of deaths they cause in Nigeria. “Close...
Tobacco Farmer Shifts To Profitable Food Crops
When we visited a 45-year-old Michael Okong’o at his rural home in Gogo village, West Kanyamkago Ward, Uriri Sub-county of Migori County, the healthy green crops were all we could see. One could hardly tell of the poor climatic condition of the area, with most lands surrounded with rock boulders. Okong’o’s home, sits at the boundary...
Health experts debunk myths on vaping: Does it really help smokers quit? What chemicals are you inhaling?
E-cigarettes are banned in Singapore and getting caught vaping will get you a hefty fine, but that hasn’t stemmed the rising number of offence cases in recent years. CNA Lifestyle asks doctors and pharmacists all about vaping. When it comes to cigarette use, its association with lung disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer and congenital deformities is...
Nigeria And The Threats Of Tobacco Smoking
The warning that ‘Smokers are liable to die young’ is always ubiquitously written on the packs of most cigarettes, but to digest the message is one thing and to do it is a different matter. If those who consume tobacco products in Nigeria continue to do so at grave risk to their health, it...
If we want to fight cancer, we should tax the companies that cause it
We tax cigarettes and sodas because they’re bad for you. We should tax companies that put carcinogens in the environment. Americans don’t agree on much of anything lately. Except taxes – who doesn’t hate taxes? And also cancer: everyone hates cancer. Maybe hating cancer was on President Joe Biden’s mind when, earlier this month, he shared...
BAT Uganda Calls For Urgent Government Action Against Illicit Trade In Cigarettes
BAT Uganda has called for enhanced action against illicit trade in Uganda, following a report, which indicates that the illicit cigarette trade in the country continues to rise significantly. The research commissioned by BAT Uganda and conducted by Kantar covered the second half of 2021 and found that 23.8 per cent of the cigarettes sold...
FG Told To Operationalise Tobacco Control Fund
The Nigeria Tobacco Control Alliance (NTCA) has decried the needless delay in operationalising the tobacco control fund. The alliance, therefore urged the Federal Government to as a matter of urgency operationalise the tobacco control fund in the interest of Nigerians and their safety. The group made the call at a briefing in Abuja with the theme:...
Tobacco smoking: For the graphic health warning policy, delay is dangerous
The decision of the Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa (CAPPA) to call out SmokeBoxNG and DaSmokeHub, two popular tobacco vendors for marketing tobacco products on social media, has put tobacco industry activities in Nigeria on the spotlight again. Both organisations, operating from Lagos and Abuja, were called out in CAPPA’s “Report on Tobacco Industry Capture of the Virtual...