AFRIQUE_90% of Africans are not protected by legal provisions in the fight against smoking

While Africa is experiencing an increase in smoking more than that of other developing regions, about 90 percent of Africans still have no real protection against passive smoking. It's finding a new report released today during a regional conference on cancer.Cependant this report, Global Voices: Rebutting the Tobacco Industry, Winning Smokefree Air (global voice: to refute propaganda the tobacco industry to fight smoke-free air) indicates that hope is possible. Several African countries struggling against the aggressive efforts of the tobacco industry to stop public health interventions to implement legal provisions in the fight against smoking, which will provide protection to more than 100 million additional people compared to 2007 levels. The report was published by the Global Partnership for a Smoke-Free World, Global Smokefree Partnership, which includes many partners.
"For the first time in history, we have tools for preventing a pandemic," said Dr. Otis W. Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society. "Recent data show that, if current trends continue, more than half of the Africa region will double its consumption of tobacco over the next twelve years. Providing smoke-free public places is an example of a response to low cost and extremely effective, which must be implemented now to protect health. "

During the past year, Kenya and Niger have implemented national policies to fight against smoking. For its part, South Africa, where legislation in the fight against tobacco use existed since March 2007, continues to play an important role in the region, demonstrating that laws in the fight against smoking may be implemented in Africa. In a first for the region, Mauritius has recently passed a law which is not far from meeting the standards Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, and is one of measures against smoking in the most vigorous world.

However, the report says, obstacles to implementation remain in many countries including the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana and Uganda, particularly in the identification of resources for implementation, and l opposition of the tobacco laws in the fight against smoking. In Abuja, Nigeria, 55 percent of students in schools do not know that passive smoking was hazardous to health, and barely 1 percent of the population of Nigeria is protected by strong legal provisions in the fight against smoking .

The report highlights the tactics of the tobacco industry to stop the establishment of a statutory scheme for the fight against smoking, and to convince African governments to the economic importance of tobacco and the fact that increasing taxes on cigarettes and put in place legislation banning smoking will lead to loss of revenue and employment. In Kenya, for example, the tobacco industry has initiated legal action against the passage in Parliament of a strict law in the fight against smoking. And in Zambia, the company British American Tobacco has contributed to empty their content of proposed anti-smoking.

However, many findings in recent years show that in reality these tax losses are not realized. According to the report, the law in the fight against smoking Mauritius will have no impact on tourism revenues, which account for nearly one quarter of GDP. In South Africa, the VAT receipts show that the laws against smoking had no significant impact on restaurant receipts and could even have a positive effect. The tax increase in South Africa was followed by an increase in revenue. And in countries where tax revenues are scarce, the tax increase may be beneficial for social services, education and health care.

In addition to a statutory scheme for the fight against smoking, economic interventions, such as high taxation of cigarettes, can significantly help reduce effectively and efficiently use in Africa. Doubling the price of cigarettes by increasing taxes can reduce consumption by 60 percent. This is true in many African countries. In South Africa, for example, tobacco consumption has fallen by one third since 1993, with implementation of large increases in cigarette taxes.

In 2010, smoking costs the lives of 6 million people worldwide, of which 72 percent live in countries with low income and middle-income. If current trends continue, it will kill 7 million people per year in 2020 and over 8 million per year in 2030.

About 1 billion people in 45 countries around the world now benefit from legal protection against the health hazards of passive smoking in the workplace or in public places. Despite rapid progress, more than 85 percent of world population, including those of many low-income, middle income, still no real protection against passive smoking.

The report of the Global Partnership for a Smoke-Free World was launched at a media summit hosted by the American Cancer Society, which preceded the conference Cancer in Africa AORTIC which begins November 12 in Dar es Salaam Tanzania.