Tobacco Control in Africa - TCA

Tunisie: Festival d’Internet anti-tabac

En concrétisation de la décision de faire de l’année  2009 celle de lutte contre le tabagisme et en coopération avec le ministère de la Santé publique, l’Association Tunisienne d’Internet et de Multimédia a décidé, pour la première fois en Tunisie, de créer le plus grand espace sans tabac.

 Il s’agit du 1er Festival International d’Internet anti- Tabac. Cette initiative traduit l’intérêt accordé par la société civile à la préservation de la santé du citoyen et à sa protection contre les maladies chroniques.

Source: African Manager Festival d'El Kantaoui

La Société Américaine du Cancer choisie par la Fondation Gates pour gérer le projet de lutte antitabac en Afrique

Chers membres et amis de ACTA,

Comme une mise à jour de la part de la Fondation Gates, je suis heureux de vous informer que lcette fondation a invité l'un de nos consortium en particulier celle dirigée par la Société Américaine de Cancer (ACS) et composé de ATCA, ATCRI, FCA et ACS, l'Union et Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids (CTFK), à soumettre une proposition complète pour ce projet. La Fondation Gates a indiqué que la proposition de ce consortium est la seule proposition qu'ils envisagent d'appuyer.

Source: email de Fabrice Ebeh

The American Cancer Society chosen by the Gates Foundation to lead the antitobacco project in Africa

Dear ATCA members and friends,

As an update from the Gates Foundation LOI, I am pleased to inform you that The Gates Foundation has invited one of our consortium in particular the one lead by the American Cancer Society (ACS) and composed of ATCA, ATCRI, FCA and The American Cancer Society, The Union and The Campaign for Tobacco Free-Kids (CTFK), to submit a full proposal for this project. The Gates Foundation has indicated that the proposal from ACS and its Consortium partners is the only full proposal they will be considering.

Source: Email of Fabrice Ebeh

Imperial Tobacco pleased with growth in Africa

That's according to their interim report for 2009: "

we continued to grow volumes and shares in the majority of our markets in the nine months to June.

Our cigarette brands performed strongly in the region with Davidoff volumes up 21 per cent, Gauloises up 10 per cent, Gitanes up 33 per cent and Fine up 25 per cent.

We are maintaining our growth momentum in Africa..."

Mandela Day 2009

Mandela Day, timed around the former South African president’s birthday on July 18, is a campaign based on a call by current president Jacob Zuma for all South Africans and the world to spend 67 minutes of their time performing duties or activities useful to the community.

This is to mark the fact that Mandela, the anti-apartheid hero who became South Africa’s first democratically-elected president in May 1994, dedicated 67 years of his life to the service of humanity, fighting for peace, justice, development and freedom.         

IMPACT et l'appel d'offres de la Fondation Gates pour faire avancer la lutte contre le tabac en Afrique Sub-Saharienne

Un message de Véronique Le Clézio sur la réponse apportée par IMPACT à l'appel d'offres de la Fondation Gates.

257 millions de francophones en Afrique Sub-Saharienne

Pos	Pays	Population
-	Pays Francophones d'Afrique Sub-Saharienne	257,642,909
1	RDCongo	68,692,542
2	Madagascar	20,653,556
3	Côte d'Ivoire	20,617,068
4	Cameroun	18,879,301
5	Burkina Faso	15,746,232
6	Niger	15,306,252
7	Sénégal	13,711,597
8	Mali	12,666,987
9	Guinée	10,957,975
10	Rwanda	10,473,282
11	Tchad	10,329,208
12	Burundi	8,988,091
13	Bénin	8,791,832
14	Togo	6,619,000
15	République Centrafricaine	4,511,488
16	Congo-Brazzaville	4,012,909
17	Mauritanie	3,129,486
18	Gabon	1,514,993
19	Maurice	1,284,264
20	Comores	752,438
21	Djibouti	516,055
22	Seychelles	87,476

Source: us census bureau 2009 by countries 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa#Demographics

Festival culturel panafricain d'Alger

Juste pour vous indiquer sa tenue et les pays qui y participent.

Gambia: smokers who cannot quit wish manufacturers stop producing cigarettes

Wishful thinking...
Source: AllAfrica and Foroyaa on line

Eritrea: two tobacco control conferences

The conferences were about the Tobacco Free Schools Initiative and the use of tobacco by Eritrean Health professionals.

Source: IDRC' site.

Rwanda: according to Dr Agnes Binagwaho smoking prevalence is down

The permanent secretary in the Ministry of Health, Dr. Agnes Binagwaho has revealed that the country's public consumption levels of tobacco have relatively gone down compared to the previous years.

Source: AllAfrica  See also the GYTS survey on our blog about Tobacco Prevalence in Africa

Rwanda: Public Tobacco Smoking Down – Minisante - AllAfrica
July 13, 2009

Angola: University leader praises new smoking ban, asks for more media campaigns

The Principal of Lusiadas University of Angola (ULA) Mário Pinto de Andrade, Thursday here has defended, a greater diffusion by the state-owned and private mass media of law against public smoking, approved in July, 1st by the Cabinet Council.

Source: Angolapress portal

Obama: l'avenir de l'Afrique appartient aux Africains

Un article publié dans Libération au sujet du discours prononcé par Obama à Accra: «Nous devons commencer par ce postulat simple: l'avenir de l'Afrique appartient aux Africains eux-mêmes». 

Obama a ravivé le grand slogan de sa campagne électorale victorieuse, "yes, you can"

Nigeria: Health minister, senators want ban on tobacco

Minister of Health, Professor Babatunde Osotimehin has described the economic argument for the production of tobacco in Nigeria as making nonsense of the risk it portends to the people.

Prof. Osotimehin, who stated this at an interactive dinner, organized by Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora in conjunction with Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth, Nigeria, to support the ‘National Tobacco Control Bill’, said the time has come for Nigeria to do everything possible to ban tobacco production in the country.

Source: article in the Daily Sun by AMOS DUNIA, reproduced in the Nigeria Tobacco Control Bill blog

President Obama about aid in an interview with AllAfrica.com before his trip to Ghana

We have chosen this part from the interview about the role of the internet and how the aid is sometimes spent:

"technology can play a very important role in streamlining our aid to countries, making sure that we're tracking how that aid is being applied, making sure that it's reaching the people it's intended to reach. One of the concerns that I have with our aid policy generally is that western consultants and administrative costs end up gobbling huge percentages of our aid overall. It seems to me that what we should be doing is trying to minimize our footprint and maximize the degree to which we're training people to do for themselves. So I think using the Internet, using software, using modern technology to improve delivery systems is important.

Smoking uptake and prevalence in Ghana

From Tobacco Control Journal Online.

The conclusions: Despite rapid economic growth and a sustained tobacco industry presence, smoking prevalence in Ghana is low, particularly among younger people. This suggests that progression of an epidemic increase in smoking has to date been avoided.

A report about illicit tobacco trade in South Africa contends industry is wrong: no link between higher taxes and illicit trade

A paper by South African economist Evan Blecher, now with the American Cancer Society, shows that by 2007, illicit trade accounted for up to seven per cent of the total market in South Africa.

However, the evidence shows that tobacco control policy has been successful and only partially undermined by illicit trade; consumption of tobacco products has continued declining while tax revenue has risen, thanks to sharply higher excise taxes.

The full report on pdf format (26 pages) 

Source: FCA Bulletin number 94, page 4 (pdf format)

Congo: création d'un comité national de lutte antitatabac

Un comité national de lutte antitatabac a été mis en place à Brazzaville le 22 juin, sous la haute autorité du Ministère de la Santé, des Affaires Sociales et de la Famille lors d'une réunion entre les Représentants des Ministères impliqués dans le contrôle de tabac (14), l'OMS pays et la société civile.

Un bureau de cinq (5) membres a été mis en place, avec un Commissariat aux comptes.
Source: Célestin Zouma

Angola: Government sets prohibition on smoking in various Places

The Government has announced a series of measures prohibiting smoking in various places.
Source: Angola Press