Tobacco Control Bill: Let Nigerians know the truth.

Tobacco Control Bill: Let Nigerians know the truth.

It is an established fact that tobacco consumption is a major cause of death worldwide. Unlike HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis that are caused by microorganisms, tobacco - related diseases are man-made.

The Vector (tobacco industry, causing the tobacco epidemic) produces agents (tobacco products) that cause immediate pleasurable effects to the host (humans) followed by short and long term devastating health consequences. . Some of the tobacco-related diseases include lung cancer and some other cancers, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (chronic bronchitis and emphysema), stroke, ischaemic heart disease, impotence to mention but a few.

Globally, tobacco causes about 5.4 million deaths yearly compared to 3 million, 2 million and 1 million deaths caused by AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria respectively. Thus, tobacco causes almost the same number of deaths as malaria, tuberculosis and AIDS combined.

Ironically, the global funding of tobacco control, according to WHO, is below $400 million compared to $18 billion for AIDS, $2.5 billion for tuberculosis and around $2 billion for malaria. As a result, while there has been a gradual decrease in the incidence of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, tobacco-related deaths have been on a sharp increase.

The WHO FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) is a treaty with an overall objective of protecting present and future generations from the devastating health, social, environmental and economic consequences of tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke; and to reduce continually and substantially the prevalence of tobacco use and exposure to tobacco smoke.

The domestication of the WHO FCTC by most developed countries to protect their citizens from the harmful effects of tobacco, has translated to marked reduction in tobacco consumption in these countries. The effect of which is the migration of tobacco companies to developing countries where there is no effective legislation to curb their activities.

The components of the FCTC include; taxation on tobacco products that is continuously adjusted to the annual inflation rate, smoke-free public places, health warnings on tobacco products-to include pictures or pictograms on cigarette packages, ban on advertisement, promotion or sponsorships by tobacco companies, regulation of tobacco products, tobacco products disclosures e.t.c.

About 168 countries including Nigeria are signatories or parties to the FCTC. While Nigeria is yet to fully domesticate the FCTC, South Africa, a fellow African country has one of the most comprehensive tobacco control policies in the world.

The Nigeria National Tobacco Control Bill which is one of the efforts geared towards the domestication of the FCTC in Nigeria will soon be presented to the House plenary session by the Senate Committee on health.

The tobacco industry is the major challenge to the FCTC implementation. The industry comes up with different tactics to frustrate the passage of a bill such as this. One of their strategies is to come up with erroneous arguments either directly or indirectly by lobbying legislators, scientists and even journalists to counter the passage of the anti-smoking bill.

Several evidence-based researches have been conducted to nullify some of the arguments of the tobacco industry. One of such is a research conducted by Tei-Wei Hu et al, on the role of taxation in tobacco control and its potential economic impact in China. The result clearly states that increasing the tobacco tax in China is the most cost-effective instrument for tobacco control. He established that a tax of $0.13 per pack of cigarettes would decrease cigarette consumption by 3 billion packs of cigarettes, reduce number of smokers by 3.42 million, save 1.14 million lives and increase the Chinese government revenue by $17.2 billion. The effect of increased tobacco taxation on employment was minimal.

Similarly, studies in the USA, UK and Indonesia, using their national input/output industry tables, showed that a cigarette tax increase led to gain in income and employment in other sectors, greater than the loss in the true tobacco sector.

Increased tobacco taxation also leads to an increase in government revenue which can in turn be used in sponsoring tobacco control programs in form of dedicated tobacco tax. The effect of this is a reduction in the smoking population and an overall improvement in the health of Nigerians. However, concrete steps should be taken by the government to continuously adjust tobacco taxation to the annual inflation rate and to guide against illicit tobacco trade (smuggling), which can neutralize the tobacco control measure of a tax increase.

Revenue derived from tobacco taxation can also be used to provide alternative employment for tobacco farmers, who are already exposed to a lot of occupational hazards like Green tobacco sickness. Crop diversification is the best alternative for these tobacco farmers. Government can assist them in cultivating food crops that will boost food production in the country, alleviate poverty, and provide more income for the farmers. This generates more revenue for the government and it is more economically productive when compared to tobacco farming with its attendants direct and indirect health costs.

Another component of the FCTC is the enforcement of smoke-free public places. This is yet another measure that has been proven to help reduce the smoking population. This policy helps protect non-smokers including pregnant women and children from the harmful effects of passive smoking (second hand smoking). It also helps to “denormalise” tobacco smoking, which some of our youths see as the norm. Similarly, it reduces the number of cigarettes smoked per smoker, since there would be fewer smoking areas.

The implementation and enforcement of the Nigerian National Tobacco Control Bill is the best thing the National Assembly can do to improve the health of Nigerians in this century. The passage of this bill is just the beginning of the struggle to save Nigerians from the harmful effects of tobacco, because the tobacco industry will fight back in diverse ways. Adequate measures should be put in place for monitoring, evaluation and surveillance, for effective coordination of the various components of the bill and the actualization of the intended objectives.

Furthermore, government will need to collaborate with tobacco control programs and other Non-governmental Organisations in the implementation of certain components of the FCTC such as in educating the masses and creating awareness about the harmful effects of tobacco; provision of smoking cessation clinics for those that want to quit smoking and also sponsorship of research work on tobacco control particularly in the areas of monitoring and evaluation. In addition, achieving a great impact in the area of tobacco control in Nigeria requires an effective and efficient coordination of all tobacco control activities.

Tobacco consumption and exposure to tobacco smoke (passive smoking) can cause premature deaths. All stakeholders should support the implementation and enforcement of this bill to help prevent our youths from starting a health-damaging behavior; help current smokers quit; protect non-smokers including children and workers at bars and restaurants from the harmful effects of second hand smoking; generally improve the health of Nigerians and prevent millions of deaths globally.

world no tobacco day 2010: gender and tobacco

World No Tobacco Day 2010: Gender and Tobacco

Since 1987, the WHO has recognized  the 31^st  of May of every year as the World No Tobacco Day (WNTD). This is intended to encourage a 24-hour period of abstinence from all forms of tobacco consumption. It is primarily designed to draw global attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and its negative health effects.

The theme for this year’s WNTD is “Gender and Tobacco with an emphasis on marketing to women”. The WHO, other governmental and  non-governmental organisations are bothered by the rising prevalence of smoking among women and the underlying factors responsible for this occurrence; hence, the choice of this year’s theme.  The theme is not only to create awareness about the luring tobacco epidemic among women, but also to expose the activities of the tobacco industry aimed at sensitizing women to take up the habit of smoking.

Some decades back, seeing a woman smoke, particularly in developing countries such as Nigeria was more or less a unacceptable, but presently, smoking among women is gradually becoming a norm.

 In 1995, 47% of men and 12% of women smoke cigarettes globally, representing an overall global smoking population of 29%. Evidence-based research shows that currently about 1.3 billion people smoke globally of which over 250 million (20%) are women.

A survey carried out in North-East Nigeria in 2002, showed that the prevalence of smoking amongst males was  45.3% while that of the females was 18.4% (this is close to 19% in the USA). Generally, smoking is 5 times higher among men than women; however, the gender gap declines with younger age. In developed countries, smoking rates for men have begun to decline while  for  women they  continue to grow. The case is different in developing countries where the prevalence of smoking is on the increase for both men and women.

It is an established fact that every year tobacco smoking accounts for about 5.4 million deaths globally. Top on the list of tobacco-related diseases are lung cancer, chronic obstructed pulmonary disease (Emphysema and Chronic Bronchitis), ischaemic Heart Disease, stroke, oral cancer, impotence and the rest. Smoking just a few cigarettes a day can double the risk of a woman  having a heart attack. Women who smoke usually take a longer time to conceive than non-smokers. Similarly, quitting/ giving up smoking before pregnancy is important to decrease the risk of miscarriages and preterm births.

Women are also at risk of passive smoking when exposed to smoke from the burning end of a cigarette or exhaled smoke from a smoker which is injurious to one’s health. Worthy of note is the effect of passive smoking on children, particularly newborns, causing sudden infant death syndrome. Other tobacco-related diseases specific to women include cancer of the cervix, premenopausal breast cancer, early menopause, dysmenorrhea   (painful periods), osteoporosis (weak bones), premature wrinkling, and hearing loss to mention a few.

One could pause for a moment and wonder what could be responsible for the increasing smoking rates among women. Well the reason is not implausible -  the tobacco industry! A former Director-General of WHO Dr. Harlem Brundtland once said that “Tobacco is a communicated disease. It is communicated through advertising and sponsorships”. We can say that the tobacco industry has really been successful in spreading the tobacco epidemic from men  to youths, and now, to women and young girls.

The tobacco industry engages in activities that directly lure women into smoking. Sometimes their advertisements/brands are specifically targeted to the women and young girls; for example, Virginia Slims Cigarettes advertisements in Hong Kong and Japan were specifically designed for the women population. The marketing of tobacco products to women by the industry is an attempt geared towards the replacement of  nearly half of current smokers who will die prematurely from tobacco related diseases. In simple terms, if the tobacco industry can get more women to smoke, in just a matter of time, smoking will be “normalised” and more youths would accept passive smoking as the norm and easily cultivate the habit .

Certain measures have been taken by the WHO to reduce the demand for tobacco products through some of the articles of the FCTC (Framework Convention on Tobacco Control) which include high taxation on tobacco products, ban on advertisements, promotions and sponsorships by the tobacco industry, smoke-free public places, prevention of tobacco sales to minors e.t.c. Of course, the WNTD 2010 with the aforementioned theme is yet another step taken to curb this epidemic.

Women are indeed nation builders, any activity that serves as a threat to he health and social well being of women should be resisted by all stakeholders. Tobacco consumption is deadly in any form (smoking, chewing, snuffing e.t.c) and it causes more harm than good. Women should remain healthy and help put an end to this social and public health hazard that is eating up the fabric of our society.

So in closing, ladies stand up for your right, stay healthy, secure your future and say ‘No’ to tobacco.