My name is Philippe Boucher.
I have started this blog to collect and share data and information about tobacco taxes in Africa.
We know prices and taxes are key elements in a tobacco control strategy but as of today the relevant data and information is quite difficult to obtain.
My main initial resource has been 'Tobacco Control Country Profiles", the work sponsored by the American Cancer Society but it was published in 2003 and sometimes the data are incomplete.
I think the tobacco taxes issue deserves a permanent observatory and this blog can allow our community to bring and share the data and the information in a modern and interactive way (see the How you can contribute post).
Since I am working for the ATSA project I am first focusing about collecting very basic data from the 12 countries that have been selected (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Mauritius, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia).
But of course since raising taxes in one country can depend on what the situation is for its neighbors I am also interested in collecting information more globally and looking at all the African countries.
My take is that the data have to be available via the Finance Ministry and customs administration of each country but it would help to have local correspondents searching for them.
Considering the importance of taxes in the tobacco control strategy I think the key data should be readily available.
I am interested in data and also in narratives about the data, some stories explaining what the situation is.
If you know people who could help locally and/or where to find the data if they are already collected, that would be great.
Thank you in advance for your help and contribution.
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