Source: AllAfrica
Anti-Public Smoking Law to be Re-Enforced - AllAfrica
September 29, 2010
Omar Wally
The Gambia Police Force in collaboration with sister security units in the country and the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, on Monday organised a one-day sensitisation forum on the re-enforcement of anti-public smoking act at the Police headquarters in Banjul.
The Anti-Tobacco Campaign law was ratified since 25th July 1998 and the Public Smoking Act assented to by the president but for some reasons was not enforced. The re-enforcement stated that with effect from October 1st 2010 all cigarette packets being imported into The Gambia are required to bear the following health warnings in the format prescribed hereafter: On the front of every new cigarette packaging, the front of the packet should bear the inscription; Â"SMOKING KILLS", at the back of the packet, it should bear; "SMOKING SERIOUSLY HARMS YOU AND OTHERS AROUND YOU". On the sides of the packet should be written; Â"SOLD IN THE GAMBIA".
Speaking at the occasion, Yorro Bah, programme manager of the Health Education Unit at the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare, who doubles as the focal person for Tobacco Control in The Gambia, said every nation has a target to fight against tobacco. According to him, after fighting hard, his organisation [Tobacco Control] was able to convince parliamentarians to accept and ratify the bill. "All provisions have to be taken care of, because smoking does not only affect smokers, it also affects non-smokers," he said.
"We want to prevent smoking in public, it should be done in isolated areas, but this is a big challenge and we cannot do it alone and therefore, the collaboration of various security units must enable us to achieve our goals," he added. He noted that smoking is doing more harm than good, adding that the advertisement of cigarettes has been banned in The Gambia. The majority of smokers in the country, he said are youths, adding that there is a need to take action against it. "It is high time we respect the laws of the land and collaborate with various forces to make The Gambia a safe country," he further remarked.
For his part,Samboujang Conteh, the director of RAID-The Gambia, described the day as very important for anti-tobacco campaigners. He recalled that the anti-tobacco law was ratified since the 25th of July 1998. The Gambia National Assembly and the Public Smoking Act was assented by the president on the 23rd of September 1998. "My office has done alot of consultations, until later, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control FCTC came in," he stated. "The Gambia National Assembly ratified the Convention on the 5th of June 2007 without any amendment, and it was assented by the president in October 2007," he revealed.
"The WHO Gambia office, Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the National Assembly, sub-contracted my agency to translate the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control FCTC to the Gambian community. We organised 43 consultative forums across the country and each forum brings together 30 participants from the cross section of the society," he explained, and continued:
"These include; women, men, youths and opinion leaders. After the completion of our community consultation, we came with five key recommendations;
1. Increase taxation over 100% on the importation of all tobacco products
2. Enforcement of Public Smoking Act
3. Impose a ban on the sales of Tobacco to children or minus
4. Create a Tobacco Control Program or National Tobacco Control Unit
5. Launch an intensive anti-tobacco control campaign."
He stated that, after the submission of the technical report to the stakeholders, his agency continued to work with the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare and the WHO to implement the recommendation from The Gambian community. He said that this sensitisation forum is another important milestone in the history of The Gambia anti-tobacco campaign programme.
"The role of the security as we know is to protect the country, its people and their properties.. Your role as security is very important and that no act can be enforced in the absence of the security," he noted. "Tobacco is the second leading killer disaese in the world which causes the death of more than 5 million people annually, according to WHO report which The Gambia is not an exception." He then promised that his agency will continue to struggle to ensure that the country is free from tobacco, drugs and substance abuse.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare wish to remind the public of the following; No person shall smoke in any public place, as defined in the act. The manager or owner of any of the premises shall provide smoking areas within such places and labelled as smoking areas. The smoking areas must be;
*An area which permits access only to people over the age of 18 and;
*Clearly marked as a smoking area; *Should be situated in an open area or beside doors and windows.
Source: AllAfrica
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