Africa fumes from excessive smoking

In the world fewer and fewer cigarettes are lit.

The rate of smokers has experienced a slight decrease in recent years, going from 22.7% of the population in 2007 to 19.6% in 2019, according to the Tobacco Atlas prepared by Vital Strategies and the University of Illinois .

This setback is due to measures such as the adoption of limits on marketing, awareness campaigns, the ban on smoking in public places and, above all, the imposition of high import duties, which affects the price of a pack.

However, in many African countries the trend is reversed and smoking is on the rise.

The strategy of this industry is clear: the less developed countries, with lower taxes and a very young population, are their target.

Mamadou Diagne leans against a wall of a half-built house in the Ouakam neighborhood of the Senegalese capital.

Slowly, this young salesman for an insurance company takes a lighter out of his pocket and lights his first cigarette of the morning.

He assures that he smokes about five or six a day more or less.

“I buy them loose at the store next to my house.

My wife doesn't like me to smoke, especially because of the children, so I enjoy them in the street”, he says as he exhales the smoke.

Buying them does not imply a great effort: a pack of a well-known American tobacco brand costs just over one euro, a ridiculous price compared to that of most developed countries, and which has barely moved in recent years.

Senegal adopted in 2014 a pioneering smoking control law for its harshness in the West African region.

Eta specified restrictions on smoking in public, regulated packaging and labeling with the inclusion of images of the medical consequences of smoking, measures to prevent interference by the tobacco industry in national health policy and to prohibit all forms of advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

“But the law is one thing and reality is another: we see that many of these regulations have been relaxed or are not being complied with,” says economist Demba Moussa Dembelé.

“The Government does not want to bother importing companies.

The most effective measure would be to raise taxes and really apply severe restrictions.

We see a lot of young people starting to smoke, it's a growing trend,” he adds.

Wherever high rates are introduced, the consequences can be seen almost immediately: prices rise and consumption falls, which in turn has two further implications: health spending from smoking is reduced and revenues rise, which, managed in the right way, they contribute to better medical care for the population.

According to the Tobacco Atlas, with a 10% increase in cost, the drop in the habit is 4% in the countries of the global North, while the drop is 5% in low- and middle-income countries.

The World Health Organization has called for tougher tax measures to tax cigarettes, but in Africa the response remains insufficient.

The Tobacconomics team of economists at the University of Illinois regularly produces the Cigarette Tax Scoring System, a four-criteria ranking that measures the effectiveness of tobacco tax measures and expresses it through an index ranging from zero to five, with zero being the absence of taxes and five being a comprehensive fiscal policy with excellent results.

In its last report for 2020, the African continent continued to occupy the lowest step with an average score of 1.64, although it had improved slightly compared to 1.30 in 2018. Within Africa, Botswana appears as the toughest country against the consumption, with a 4.3 score, and Liberia, which has introduced the most reforms, going from 0.5 to 3.13.

Of the rest of the countries, none exceeds three points.

"Senegal has lost its leadership position in the anti-tobacco fight due to a lack of political will in recent years," said Djibril Wele, executive secretary of the Senegalese League Against Tobacco, on May 31.

This lack of initiative is felt throughout the continent.

In Cameroon and Burkina Faso, similar civil society groups have noted the growing presence of outlets near schools;

in Kenya, Chad and the Central African Republic, taxation for this product is so low that a straw costs less than a simple candy.

If current trends continue, by 2025 Africa will have 80 million new smokers

“The tobacco industry and importers are part of the elite, they have a great capacity to exert enormous pressure on the rulers and ensure that the regulations, if they exist, are relaxed or applied laxly, especially in more economically dependent countries” , adds Dembelé.

If the current trend continues, by 2025 the number of smokers in Africa will have increased to 80 million people, making it the region of the world with the most new smokers in a context of a global decline in the habit.

Experts say that behind these figures is the population increase, but above all, the aggressiveness of the industry in markets with enormous potential underlies.

According to a study by the University of Bath in the United Kingdom, these policies began as early as the 1990s.

“Tobacco companies have strategically planned their expansion into Africa for more than two decades, aggressively and consistently seeking to exploit these profitable opportunities.

To expand their consumer base, they target potential new smokers in their promotional

, especially women and younger groups.

Often the methods of marketing and selling their products, such as sponsorship of youth-oriented events, involve violation of international frameworks and even the industry's own mandatory marketing principles.

The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, launched in 2005 by the WHO, encouraged many governments around the world, including in Africa, to adopt restrictive regulations.

However, the reality is that while in developed countries the rate of smoking is falling, in Africa a trade war is being waged in which companies seem to be winning some battles.

“Tobacco kills and generates enormous health costs.

We can stop this epidemic with adequate policies”, adds Demba Moussa Dembele.

"Africa does not have to be the lifeboat of tobacco companies at the expense of the health of citizens."

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