Below are parts of the document titled Tobacco Strategy Overview (pdf), that specifically refer to Africa. The document is dated November 2011. See at the end the priorities for future investments. How will those priorities be implemented is another story, a story maybe worth millions of dollars.
INTERVENTION AREAS
Prevent tobacco use in Africa
As incomes rise in a young and growing Sub-Saharan population, evidence shows that tobacco use could double in the coming years if strong tobacco control measures are not implemented.
Between 1995 and 2000, the tobacco consumption rate rose by 2.7 percent in the developing world overall; in Sub-Saharan Africa, the rate rose by 3.2 percent. In Senegal, 4.78 billion cigarettes were consumed in 2009, an increase of 218.7 percent since 1990. Though the majority of governments in Sub-Saharan Africa have committed to the WHO FCTC, tobacco control remains a low health priority for many African governments, as they are faced with a myriad of other health problems and lack data on the burden of tobacco related death and disease.
Given the early nature of the tobacco epidemic in Africa, now is a critical time to invest in campaigns and research to support policy and social norm change. We must show governments the win-win of tobacco control interventions that save lives and raise much needed revenue for health and development.
In July 2008, Bill Gates and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched a partnership with a commitment of $375 million (U.S.) for the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use (Bloomberg Initiative). We continue to invest in the Bloomberg Initiative, which has catalyzed the global effort to fight tobacco use since 2006. Recognizing the need to increase our advocacy efforts in Africa and to obtain more and better data on tobacco, our investment supports the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, Global Youth Tobacco Surveys (GYTS), and Global Adult Tobacco Surveys (GATS) through the Center for Disease Control Foundation, among other projects.
We are also supporting two resource centers in Africa through the American Cancer Society (ACS) sponsored African Tobacco Control Consortium (ATCC) and the WHO sponsored Center for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA) at the Makerere University College of Health Sciences School of Public Health. These centers will provide technical assistance, mobilize resources, and build capacity to implement sustained tobacco control interventions that prevent further increases in tobacco use prevalence in Sub-Saharan Africa. They will also represent a cross- sector partnership of governmental and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) throughout the region. We are also supporting economists at the ACS and WHO to work with governments, advocates and African researchers on the economics of tobacco control...
WHAT WE ARE LEARNING
In Sub-Saharan Africa, our future investments will aim to strengthen the capacity of advocates, NGOs, civil society, academia, and governments to engage in reducing tobacco use by educating the public on the harms of tobacco and by providing the technical assistance, training, and mentoring opportunities necessary to advocate for tobacco control. We will promote African participation in decision-making and technical assistance from African and developing-world experts who have successfully implemented tobacco control measures. Through our work with the Bloomberg Initiative, we are also learning that models of tobacco control that were successful in Western countries such as the United States are not always readily accepted or equally successful in other countries. Each country needs local information and data to support its case to governments—and to counter the tobacco industry’s promotional campaigns. Countries need new and updated economic analysis on tax policy, burden of disease, and recent data on consumption. Countries also need to understand the consequences of tobacco on their health and economies. To address this challenge, we will continue to support the development of advocates and strengthen NGOs globally, increase the public’s understanding of the importance of tobacco control policy, and fund measures to assess tobacco use prevalence through new and existing, on-going country surveys.
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/topics/Documents/tobacco-strategy-overview-1123.pdf
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