Tobacco menace

Tobacco use has been a concerning and notorious public health matter for decades.

Available statistics attribute the annual deaths of approximately 6,700 Ghanaians to tobacco use, besides causing significant illness and disability and thwarting efforts at attaining universal health care.

Tobacco and tobacco smoke contain a complex mixture of over 9,500 chemical compounds, many of which are health hazards collaboratively implicated by regulatory agencies, such as the US FDA, regional health organisations (WAHO, PAHO, etc.) and the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

There is a strong correlation between smoking and increased disease risk. It is the leading cause of cancer worldwide, having been associated with a wide array of ailments.

Nominal global estimates have it that at least 940 million males and 193 million females ages 15 or older were current smokers in 2019. 

Concept

In proportion terms, the prevalence decreased from 22.7 per cent (2007) to 17.0 per cent (2021), reminiscing nation-specific trends; in a few scenarios, there was either no change or a modest increase in prevalence, attributable to demographic dynamics and/or any associated considerable tendency to smoke tobacco.

Causation is a phenomenon of how an exposure (in this case nicotine) can lead to disease (as in lung cancer and/or emphysema). The apparent prime bother for the tobacco industry has been to make a profit, as against legitimate health concerns.

The celebration of  May 31 as “World No Tobacco Day” is backed by the passage of Resolutions WHA.40.38 (1988) and WHA.42.19 of the World Health Assembly.

It is prudent and gratifying that the commemoration of this year’s (2025) event seeks to clarify and rectify pertinent matters regarding some tactics applied by the tobacco industry in marketing its affiliated harmful nicotine products, for collective health and happiness.

The day drew local and global attention to the widespread prevalence of tobacco use and its negative health effects, which currently lead to more than eight million deaths annually worldwide, inclusive of 1.2 million, the result of non-smokers being exposed to (passive) second-hand smoke.

The WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC, 2003) is a global public health facility that was adopted for anti-tobacco policies, particularly regarding advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Ghana is committed to the implementation of the WHO FCTC.

Treaty

It has adopted the Public Health Act 2012 (Act 851) and Tobacco Control Regulations 2016 (L.I. 2247). Further, a National Tobacco Control Strategy was launched in 2023. It has also passed the Excise Duty (Amendment) Act (Act 1093) in 2023, to introduce a specific excise tax on cigarettes and accomplice tobacco products.

Article 20 (WHO FCTC), in tandem with the legal stipulations in Ghana, recommends our prioritising surveillance for clear quantitative indices (particularly in socio-economic terms) of the magnitude, patterns, determinants, as well as the dire consequences of tobacco use in all sectors of our population.

There remains further strengthening of tobacco control laws and policies.

A prime target should be the youth, students in our boarding schools, and those similarly prone to adverse peer pressure in communities. 

These must be considered urgent at all levels of governance.

The writer is a UG, Queen’s and Harvard-trained freelance writer on science and public health matters.

E-mail: wbowusu2021@gmail.com