Cameroon’s government has made public its plans geared at ensuring an increase in taxes on tobacco products in the country.
This disclosure was made in the past month in the capital, Yaounde, by the Technical Adviser in the Minister of Public Health, Dr. Samuel Kingue, during a belated ceremony to mark the 2018 World No Tobacco Day. Dr. Kingue, who is also the President of Cameroon Cardiac Society, noted that the day is observed worldwide on every May 31 but for some technical reason, the commemoration in Cameroon was postponed.
Referring to an earlier presentation by a cardiologist, Kingue stated that consumers of tobacco don’t only suffer from heart diseases but are exposed to many other health hazards as a result of smoking. He also went ahead to state that tobacco kills one out of every two consumers leading to 7 million deaths in the world annually.
He further maintained that if urgent measures are not taken, the figure will hit 8 million by the year 2030. The Technical Adviser regretted that the most affected group in the country are the young people who are the greatest targets of the tobacco industry, especially in the developing world. He also mentioned a 2014 global youth tobacco survey in Cameroon in which reveals that hundreds of thousands of children between the ages 13-15 use some form of tobacco product.
Dr. Kingue, who equally expounded on the negative economic consequences of tobacco use, told the representative of WHO at the event that their proposal for taxes on tobacco products to be increased is receiving positive attention from the government.T he Cameroon Coalition for Tobacco Control, C3T, which is a tobacco control organization based in Cameroon, has equally been clamoring not only for an increase in taxes on tobacco products, but also for the adoption and promulgation of a tobacco control law in Cameroon.
Dr. Kingue, who represented the Minister at the event, disclosed that the Ministries of the Economy, Planning and Regional Development, MINEPAT, and Finance, have had a series of meetings and one of the issues has been the possibility of increasing taxes on tobacco products. He also stated that the Ministry of Secondary Education, MINESEC, is working to add a module on drug control including tobacco use in the school program.
Other measures geared at controlling tobacco use in Cameroon which the MINSANTE official spoke on included instructions given to the Ministry of External Relations to work towards the implementation of the ratified WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, FCTC; moves towards ensuring the effectiveness of a complete ban on advertising of tobacco products in the media.
He said pursuant to the FCTC, MINSANTE and the Ministry of Trade signed a joint order last January 3, 2018, laying down the conditions for the packaging and labeling of tobacco products.
According to the order, « from 03 January 2019, all packets, boxes or all packages of tobacco products marketed in Cameroon will carry a general warning, illustrated by an image and covering at least 70 percent of the external front surface of the packaging unit.” The new regulation adopted also provides for a specific health warning, illustrated by an image, covering at least 70 percent of the back outer surface of the packages.
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