In recent times, the issue of
uncontrolled tobacco use has continued to attract comments from public
health experts globally. This is so, following the high morbidity and
mortality associated with tobacco use compared to any other risk factor.
While 2011 World Health Organisation
(WHO) report revealed that tobacco currently kills over 5.4 million
people annually; it also disclosed that tobacco use was the second cause
of death globally (after hypertension).
Currently, it is responsible for killing
one in 10 adults worldwide. Tobacco use is the number one preventable
epidemic that the health community faces.
As Nigeria joined the rest of the World
to mark ‘World No Tobacco Day’- a day set apart to draw global attention
to the tobacco epidemic and its lethal effects, as well as promote
adherence to WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC),
environmental and health experts have tasked government at all levels to
adopt preventive comprehensive health education programmes on smoking
cessation and control even as they urged President Goodluck Jonathan to
sign the National Tobacco Bill (NTCB).
In an interview with BusinessDay,
Akinbode Oluwafemi, director, Corporate Accountability &
Administration, Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria
(ERA/FoEN), disclosed that countries across the globe have made
strategic efforts to combat the dangers of smoking, especially among the
youth by putting laws in place to regulate the production and marketing
of tobacco products.
While the enactment of national laws and
domestication of WHO’s FCTC are singular efforts in this direction,
Akinbode revealed that the National Tobacco Bill, which was passed by
the Senate on March 15, 2011 and concurred by the House of
Representatives on May 31, 2011, is awaiting the President’s signature
in order to make the bill a law.
According to Akinbode, “Nigeria has made
giant strides in fulfilling our international obligations by attempting
to domesticate the FCTC through the National Tobacco Control Bill. The
bill seeks to end advertisement, sponsorship, promotion and prohibit the
sale of cigarettes to minors. It recommended pictorial warnings on
cigarette packs and ban smoking in public places.
“More importantly, the bill seeks to
create a committee, National Tobacco Control Committee which will serve
as an advisory role in terms of reviewing the policy. That, essentially,
is what the bill is all about.”
Akinbode explained that while the bill
seeks 50 percent pictures of the health implications on cigarette packs,
Mauritius has already enforced 70percent and Ghana thinking of about 60
percent.
“In fact, some countries like Australia
have even gone beyond the pictures and talk about plain packaging. They
know it that they cannot debate this because the international community
has moved beyond what is even in the bill as at today. This is a bill
that has direct impact on Nigerians but we are afraid these gains that
we have worked for as civil society organisations, legislators and the
Ministry of Health may become futile if the President does not sign the
bill. We need to save Nigerian youths from the looming tobacco
epidemic,” Akinbode concluded.
Sylvester Osinowo, Africa Regional
president, World Association of Family Doctors, (WONCA), pointed out
that smoking had been identified to cause the heaviest burden of
morbidity and mortality on Nigerians compared to any other risk factor.
Osinowo stated that smoking causes
coronary heart diseases, cancer and reduction in fertility for women and
poses adverse social, economic and developmental effects on the lives
of individuals, their families and the community at large.
“Tobacco consumption causes multiple
health risks as cigarette smokers are 2.4 times more likely to develop
coronary heart disease than non-smokers. WHO’s cancer agency also
indicates that smoking has been linked to about 90 percent of all lung
cancer cases. The economic burden includes direct medical care cost for
tobacco-induced illnesses, absence from work, reduction in productivity
and death,” Osinowo stated.
The physician hinted that the primary
health care (PHC) centres nearest to the people should be empowered to
do push programmes with vigour to catch the youths before they adopt the
serious health hazard habit.
The WONCA president, however,
recommended that anti-smoking clinics be established in the PHCs and
sickbay of colleges and tertiary institutions to rehabilitate those who
were enmeshed already in the habit. He also appealed to family
physicians and general medical practitioners to disengage themselves
from habits such as smoking so as to be good role models for the society
to follow.
While the intervention of the Minister
of Health, Onyebuchi Chukwu is a singular action that many generations
of Nigerians will not forget, it is believed that safeguarding the
health of Nigerians from the dangers of tobacco use remains critical in
view of rising communicable and non communicable diseases such as
hypertension, diabetes, cancer of different types, etc.
