Zambia: CSOs ask Parley to table tobacco control bill

Zambia Consortium on Tobacco Control calls for the tabling of tobacco control legislation (the Tobacco
Control Bill) before Parliament.

Zambia Media Network Against Tobacco Chairperson Paxina Phiri said the Tobacco Control Bill is in
essence a domestication of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control
(WHO FCTC) to which Zambia became a signatory on 23 May 2008.

Ms Phiri said it’s almost 13 years now without domestication of this legal instrument before Parliament.

“As Civil Society Organizations with a vested interest in the health and economic livelihoods of the
people of Zambia, we are concerned that despite several deliberations and stakeholders’ consultations,
our calls to enact appropriate tobacco control legislation have gone unheeded,” she said.

Ms Phiri said domestically tobacco related illnesses and deaths cost the Zambian economy approximately K2.8 billion, which equates to 1.2 percent of the GDP.

Source: Independent Observer