By Kebba Ansu Manneh
Professor Williams Bezeyo, Director of Center for Tabacco Control in Africa (CTCA) has amplified calls on African researchers, policymakers, development partners and communities to unite in joint action for tobacco control.
He made this statement in a press release ahead of the first Africa tobacco control conference meant to focus attentions on public health and development with the theme: Tabacco Free Africa: An Urgent Call For Joint Action.
“Alarming statistics indicate that we are not winning the war against preventable diseases due to tobacco use in Africa. Behind every preventable illness and death that is caused by tobacco are families whose breadwinners are taken away.
“The combined cost to national healthcare budgets is manifold. Now is the time for African researchers, policy makers, development partners and communities to unite in joint action for tobacco control,” says Professor William Bezeyo, Conference chairman and Director of the CTCA.
According to him, the First Africa Tabacco conference is aimed to support national and regional tobacco control initiatives and contribute to decreasing the prevalence of tobacco use and the exposure to tobacco smoke in order to reduce the burden of disease and death caused by tobacco.
Professor Bezeyo continued that the three-day virtual gathering will infuse new energy into tobacco control on the continent – and worldwide – and harmonise and promote cross-learning and sharing of research and practice.
“The conference is being supported by regional partners including the WHO AFRO, the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, the Africa Tobacco Control Alliance, the International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease, the Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products at the University of Cape Town, the Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research at Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University and the Tax Justice Network Africa,” said Professor Williams Bezeyo.
CTCA Director went further that the agenda for this year’s conference is set to inspire conversations with and among African leaders, government representatives especially in health, finance and agriculture, researchers, academics, tobacco control focal points for country-based programmes, advocates, public health and civil society formations and the media.
He added that the conference topics will bring to life the following tracks: A: Tobacco control policy and implementation, experiences and challenges B: Tobacco control economics and financing, cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit studies, effective tax regimes, illicit trade, tobacco industry interference C: Mainstreaming tobacco control strategies, experiences and challenges D: Tobacco use trends, monitoring, evaluation and surveillance E: Alternative livelihoods and environment F: The human and international resources for effective tobacco control G: Social cultural values and multiple risk behaviours H: Novel products, understanding the effect of emerging products on tobacco control I: Tobacco use and COVID-19.
“The conference will inform ongoing engagement with policy makers, funders, healthcare professionals, farmers and communities and help us unite in redirecting the narrative away from tobacco as a means to short-term employment- and income-generation.
“Rather, we want to focus on improving health outcomes as the first step towards advancing productivity, earning potential, inclusive growth, social empowerment and environmental sustainability in Africa,” Professor Williams Bezeyo concludes.
The first Africa Conference on Tobacco Control and Development will be hosted virtually from 26 to 28 October 2021 by the Centre for Tobacco Control in Africa (CTCA) jointly with the African Capacity Building Foundation in collaboration with continental and global partners.
The inaugural conference – which plans to reconvene every four years – comes at a time when Africa is burdened with a tobacco pandemic that is undermining public health in Africa, and across the world, and setting back socio-economic development on the continent.
