Tanzania: Regulators Urged to Target Cigarette Adverts

Source from:  Tanzania Daily News (Dar es Salaam) 06/03/2013

SHISHA clubs and continued cigarettes advertisements are increasingly recruiting youths into smoking as the government drags its feet in amending the 2003 Tobacco Products Regulatory Act.

Tanzania Tobacco Control Forum (TTCF) Executive Director Lutgard Kagaruki, World Health Organization (WHO) Country Representative Grace Saguti said in Dar es Salaam that the government should speed up amending the law to ban all cigarette adverts.

"Continuing tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship in Tanzania has resulted into increasing tobacco use among the youth. Results of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) of 2008 indicated that up to 10.6% of students used different forms of tobacco products.

This figure is probably much higher today," Ms Kagaruki said. She further added that Tanzania ratified the Framework for Tobacco Control (FCTC) in July 2007 and, in accordance with the requirements of the Convention, Tanzania should have banned all tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship by 2012.

However, to-date, Tanzania remains the only country in Eastern Africa with prominent tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship.

According to Ms Saguti comprehensive advertising bans lead to reductions in the numbers of people starting and continuing smoking. Statistics show that banning tobacco advertising and sponsorship is one of the cost effective ways to reduce tobacco demand.

"An even more worrying situation is the increasing trend of use of Shisha with more and more hotels introducing Shisha clubs and electronic cigarettes mostly for the youth," she explained.

Research carried out at Ocean Road Cancer Institute in 2010 indicated that, more than 32 per cent of all cancers were tobacco related, costing the country more than $40m annually. Other tobacco-related diseases include cardiac, diabetes and chronic respiratory disease. Enditem