Tobacco Control in Africa - TCA

Ethiopia drafts stringiest tobacco control laws

In a bid to prevent the public from a devastating health consequences attributed to tobacco products, the Ethiopian government is set to introduce a stringent law that will restrict the tobacco industry from having any interference and interaction with government officials mainly responsible for the adoption of public health policy and implementations.

New tobacco control law passed in Uganda

As presented on CTFK's blog.

Kenya: Judge suspends the implementation of the new tobacco control regulations

From Business Daily. The regulations, which were supposed to have been effected last month, would have compelled cigarette makers to display graphic images on packages as warnings to smokers. The regulations also ban advertising, promoting and sponsorship of tobacco and its products as well as smoking in open spaces to protect members of the public from the harmful effects of tobacco smoke.

Bloomberg Initiative 2014: 4 grants to DRC, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda.

The Bloomberg Initiative has funded 4 projects in Africa since the beginning of 2014, in DRC ($80K), Kenya ($60K), Uganda ($18K), Ghana ($20K) for a total of $178K. All are linked to support passing legislation or implementing existing regulations.

Senegal: the new Tobacco Control Act has been promulgated

We don't have yet the detailed text and to be implemented "implementation decrees" ("décrets d'application") are still needed. Sometimes they take a long time to be issued.

Kenya: 3 Bloomberg Initiative grants (for a total of $260,077) to promote smoke-free workplaces and tobacco control policies

A one year grant of $100,484 to the African Women's Alliance for Tobacco Control to promote smoke-free workplaces, $68,254 for the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance, $91,339 for the Tobacco Control Board. Total awarded = $260,077.

DRC: a $79,965 Bloomberg Initiative grant to promote Tobacco Control Legislation

From a recent visit to the Bloomberg Initiative website we found out that the Alliance Congolaise De Contrôle Du Tabac was awarded a one year grant of $80K to promote tobacco control legislation.

Article about the present situation in Senegal

From IRINnews this detailed article about the present situation in Senegal with a strong interference of the tobacco industry to tamper with the new tobacco control law still in discussion.

Thanguy NZUE OBAME about the new Tobacco Control Law in Gabon

Below is the text (in French) of a cyber-interview with Thanguy NZUE OBAME, about the adoption of a Tobacco Control law in Gabon. It provides additional details to our previous post (in English only). Very interestingly article 48 of this law proposes to award 2% of the tobacco taxes to fund tobacco control activities. If adequately implemented such a budget would be extremely valuable and effective (see question 8) as most of the time no regular funding is provided. The choice of 2% is an improvement upon the goal mentioned (never implemented) in the article 6 of the 1988 European Charter Against Tobacco, "impose a levy of at least 1% of of tobacco cotx revenue to fund specific tobacco control and health promotion activities".

Study about a 2007 tobacco control public opinion survey in Kenya

The journal Tobacco Control publishes in his November 2013 issue a research paper about a poll conducted in Kenya in 2007 whose results helped to advocate for a new tobacco control law.

Swaziland: new tobacco control act adopted

From the WHO's Framework Convention site>. The Times of Swaziland gives some precisions.

Visit Tobacco Control Nigeria on Facebook

Pressing the Nigeria's Ministers to sign the tobacco control law with an active advocacy campaign on Facebook, plenty of pictures, a petition, but do they listen? I wonder to what extent the Gates Foundation that works extensively in Nigeria in other areas could not use this network to help advocate for this law? It would be in line (if I understand it correctly) with the new organization of the Foundation as described by Jeff Raikes in a recent interview with Tom Paulson: "It was an opportunity for us to drive a closer working relationship between the global health and global development activities. One way to explain this is by anecdote.

In December 2010, I was down south in Ethiopia in a primary health care center. The obvious health interventions offered at the clinic were posted on the wall. Some were the obvious ones like child immunization and support for HIV.

But they also posted about personal and environmental hygiene, about water and sanitation and nutrition. They even had a model garden outside.

I realized at that moment how important it was for us to reorganize in a way that pulled all of our programs together to support families (as opposed to isolated interventions). That was the driving force behind the reorganization."

About the new tobacco control law in Gabon

Gabonese advocate Thanguy NZUE OBAME has shared with us copies of the new tobacco control law, Loi 006/2013 enacted on August 21 2013, about the new tobacco control policies in Gabon ('portant instauration des mesures antitabac en République Gabonaise"). Below are a few immediate comments but a more complete analysis will take more time. Here is the post published on the FCTC site on November 13.

Monitoring team thwarts tobacco industry interference in Uganda (from FCTC.org)

ATCA's Patrick Musavuli discusses tobacco industry monitoring. (c) Tih Ntiabang

From FCTC.org

A specially trained team of tobacco control advocates has prevented the tobacco industry from getting a suggested tobacco tax increase in Uganda reduced.

The Ministry of Finance had proposed increasing Uganda’s excise tax duty on cigarettes by 45.5 percent in the 2013-14 budget. When the matter was discussed in Parliament’s Finance Committee, the industry submitted a petition calling for an increase of just 11.4 percent.

Additional $65,925 grant for Prevenir Association in Senegal: No Smoke Revolution!

The Prevenir Association (?) was awarded a one year grant of $65,925 in August, to 'galvanize support for the adoption of a FCTC-compliant TC bill in Senegal. They had received a two months $31,241 grant in May. We found a FaceBook account for Prevenir but the main source of information remains LISTAB (in French)although the most recent post as of today is more than two months old (end of August 2013). Maybe because the updating now takes place on their FaceBook page, with details about their most recent campaign, NoSmoke Revolution (on FaceBook as well) and advocacy efforts.

Additional grant ($67,942) for Nigeria

The Bllomber Initiative/CTFK allocated $67,942 to the Tobacco Control Foundation of Nigeria for advocacy for passage and presidential assent of the national tobacco control bill (NTCB) in Nigeria. This comes in supplement of previous 2013 grants.

$ 84,962 for an Anglophone Lawyers Seminar in Addis Ababa

Recent grant noted on the Bloomberg Initiative website: $84,962 for The Ethiopian Public Health Association (EPHA) to support a 5-day Seminar for English-speaking African lawyers in Addis Ababa on the FCTC and the drafting and implementation of effective tobacco control legislation.

Will South Africa adopt plain packaging?

Would such a move result in an international legal dispute?

Cameroon: A presentation of a draft for a new tobacco control law for parliamentarians

From the Cameroun Tribune.

The Cameroonian Coalition Against Tobacco held a forum on Thursday in Yaounde.

Liberia: Enforce Regulation Against Public Smoking

This Editorial in The News (from Monrovia) underlines the need for enforcement.

$17,930 for the Cameroonian Coalition for Tobacco Control

Visiting the Bloomberg Initiative site, I found this grant allocated from February to August 2012 to "support adoption of the Cameroonian National Tobacco Control Bill and increase awareness of the FCTC among government officials, civil society organizations and the general public".

Uganda: Anti-tobacco bill tabled in Parliament

Nelson Wesonga's article in the Daily Monitor about this initiative to update the Tobacco Control and Marketing Act of 1967.
Source: Daily Monitor

Congo-Brazzaville: a training workshop organized by the African Consortium

Read the article written by Tih. Why didn't the participants have a copy of the existing law? Isn't it published? The same questions apply to the laws passed in Burkina, Chad and Niger. Why are those texts not available on line? They have to be published somewhere and it should be possible to scan them and post them on line? 

Ghana: failing its obligation to the FCTC

Ghana has failed to meet its obligations on article 8, 13 and 5.2 of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). February 27, 2010 was the deadline for Ghana to have implemented a comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (Article 13) and ban smoking in public places (Article 8). Ghana is expected to have in place comprehensive tobacco control legislation five years after ratifying the FCTC (Article 5.2).

Studying tobacco control laws in Africa

Visiting the tobacco control laws website initiated by the International Legal Consortium of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids I find analyses of the existing legislation of a few countries (5) but not the texts themselves. Maybe local advocates could provide the original texts so everybody can access them?

Togo: the government is thinking about implementing the law but claims lack of financial means and ask for support from the international community

How much is needed? For what exactly?

Namibia: Tobacco Control Measure toughened while BAT threatens lawsuits and smoking prevalence is going up

From New Era.

Kenya: Tobacco industry tries to amend 2007 Tobacco Control Act

From AllAfrica.com

Madagascar: A grant to promote legislation, including graphic warnings

Visiting the site of the Bloomberg Initiative I discover this information about the grant awarded in October 2010 (until September 2012) to the National AntiTobacco Office in Madagascar for $96,669.

Nigeria: the Senate passes the Nigerian Tobacco Control Bill

As explained in this post from the Nigeria National Tobacco Control Bill Bog, the legislative process is not over: "As it is now, the bill has only been passed by the Senate. It is to be sent to the House of Representatives which will hopefully pass it before it goes to Goodluck Jonathan for his assent."

Tobaccocontrollaws.org

Tobaccocontrollaws.org is a new site created by TFK's International Legal Consortium to help share information about tobacco control laws. Presently it offers information about 4 African countries: Kenya, South Africa, Mauritius and Seychelles.

Botswana: school boys smoking, a cause for concern

This article in Mmegionline.

Ghana: Is Parliament/Cabinet full of smokers? by Joseph Ziem

Is Parliament/Cabinet full of smokers? That's the question asked by Accra based journalist and blogger Joseph Ziem as he deplores the lack of political will and support to pass the Anti Tobacco Bill.

I like any other average Ghanaian am just sick and tired of the fact that, there has been a very serious and disturbing delay in passing the Anti Tobacco Bill into Law, more than six years since it was taken to the Cabinet...

Source: Savannah News and Joy Online

Togo: the National Assembly votes the tobacco control act

On december 29 the new tobacco control act has been approved by the National Assembly. Details are available (in English) on the site of the NGO, ANCE- Pour un Togo Sans tabac.

Zambia: consensus meeting on the new tobacco control bill

Antitobacco advocates, government officials and representatives of the tobacco industry participated in a 2 day consensus meeting about the new tobacco control bill.

Source: Zambia Daily Mail, article by Darlington Mwendabai

Kenya: a "shadow report" shows the poor implementation of the law

The shadow report published by the Institute for Legislative Affairs (ILA) and presented by the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance (KETCA) points to poor implementation of the ban on advertising, rise in youth prevalence, lack of pictorial warnings on the packs, lack of tax/price increases. 

Source: Business Daily article by George Omondi

Kenya: BAT contests the smoking restrictions and the ad ban

Interesting article in Nairobi's Business Daily, by Mwangi Muiruri who details the lobbying arguments of BAT along with the antitobacco advocates answers. Illustrated with an original picture of a smoking area. 

A previous article about the Antitobacco Coalition in Kenya.

Kenya: BAT wants the Tobacco Control Bill reviewed

From CapitalFM, this article about BAT's complaints. 

Botswana: toward a Tobacco Products Bill to replace the 1992 Control of Smoking Act

From the Botswana Gazette.

South Africa: National Council Against Smoking awarded two grants by the Bloomberg Initiative

The National Council Against Smoking in South Africa has been awarded in May 2010 two 2 year grants (May 2010 to April 2012) by the Bloomberg Initiative for total of $495.722. They aim to promote "policy advocacy for effective tobacco tax and regulatory regimes".

Source: Bloomberg Initiative/What we fund

Sénégal: vers une nouvelle loi anti-tabac?

Les activistes Sénégalais travaillent sur un projet de loi. Seront-ils entendus? Le contenu de l'article demeure bien vague. Le site du CRES, financé via la Fondation Gates -CRDI pour réaliser une "analyse situationnelle" ne contient quasiment rien sur le sujet (juste un petit résumé). Voici le pré-rapport, en anglais et google.doc format.

Source: All Africa.Com

Guinée: le Premier Ministre, Jean-Marie Doré accorde une audience à Génération Sans Tabac

 Le Premier Ministre, Mr Jean Marie Doré a rencontré deux membres de l'association Génération Sans Tabac ce lundi 9 août pendant quinze minutes.

L`objet de la rencontre était de lui faire part de l`importance de la convention cadre de l`OMS que la Guinée a ratifiée.

Le Président de l`association a rappelé au Premier Ministre les articles 8, 9,13 de la Convention ainsi que les conséquences négatives de la contrebande pour l`économie Guinéenne.

Source: blog de Génération Sans Tabac

Namibia: the process to implement the Tobacco Products Control Act

This article in The Namibian explains the process to implement the Tobacco Products Control Act passed in April.

Tchad: adoption de la proposition de loi antittabac

Cette information est fournie par Daouda. 

Je vous informe que l'assemblée nationale du Tchad a adopté à l'unanimité la proposition de loi initiée par le député Kebzabo et soutenue par l'Association des consommateurs du Tchad (ADC). Cette adoption a été rendue possible grâce aux actions de plaidoyer et d'information menées par l'ADC auprès des députés.

Maroc: La loi antitabac aux oubliettes?

Un article de La Vie Eco qui s'interroge sur la mise en application d'un texte voté mais toujours non publié officiellement et sans décret d'application.

Mali: projet de loi adopté par le gouvernement

Le projet de loi a été adopté le 17 mars 2010. Et ensuite?

Ghana: We need a tobacco control law

This article by Jeorge Wilson Kingson of the Media Alliance on Tobacco Control was published January 21 on Ghana Web.

Côte d'Ivoire: qui bloque la ratification de la convention cadre de l'OMS pour la lutte contre le tabac?

Selon les activistes ce serait le secrétariat général de la présidence de la République.
A suivre.
Info transmise par Mohamed Sidi. (Source: Abidjan.net )

Par ailleurs le Pr Pascal Bogui, cité dans l'article nous a fait parvenir la mise au point suivante:

"Il y a une mauvaise interprétation de mes chiffres.
J'ai dit que le coût du traitement et de la prise en charge correcte des maladies induites par le tabagisme s'élèverait à 28 Milliards par an en Côte d'Ivoire, ce qui ne signifie pas que l'Etat dépense une telle somme."

Niger: Evaluation of the implementation of the tobacco control law of Niger: successes and failures.

Inoussa Saouna of SOS Tabagisme Niger circulated this press release about a recent evaluation workshop about the situation in Niger. Could we suggest to Inoussa to use his blog? We also could not find a french version of this press release.

Malawi: lawsuit against a tobacco control advocate.

Kondwani Bell Munthali, Coordinator of the Smoke Free Malawi Project sent us this update. It includes news about a libel and defamation complaint against activist John Kapito by Nyasa manufacturing.