Kenya Has Made Progress on Tobacco Control, says WHO

Kenya has made progress on tobacco control in recent years. According to a report by the World Health Organisation (WHO), Kenya is in fact a model for other countries in Africa and beyond.

Kenya’s successful control of the use of tobacco may be attributed to the government’s decision to tax tobacco and cigarette manufacturers and the many advertisements aired on mainstream media about responsible use of these products and their effect on health.

WHO recognizes also that Kenya is among the few African countries with a toll-free number of smokers who would wish to quit smoking.

In a report done by WHO on the Global Epidemic 2019, WHO acknowledges that in as much as the number of Kenyans using tobacco has reduced, the war on tobacco is not yet over and its progress is slow.

By 2017, the number of Kenyans aged 15 and above who use tobacco products such as cigarettes and cigars, shisha, kuber, hand-rolled cigarettes, and pipes had reduced to eight percent from 9 percent in 2012.

National Authority for the Campaign Against Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Nacada) report on tobacco users in 2018 revealed that about 2.2 million people in Kenya use tobacco products and a good percentage of tobacco users are cigarette smokers.

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The government of Kenya still needs to do more if the war on tobacco use is to ever be successful as many of the smokers start the habit at a young age and with time it becomes a struggle to stop.

Already, the government has enforced the war on tobacco by streamlining tobacco tax policies, which is said to be the most effective way to deal with tobacco use, having KRA track systems to help stop illicit trade of these products and having specific places designed for smoking.

Despite these measures, smoking still affects both smokers and non-smokers.

WHO says that about half of smokers will die as a result of the effects of smoking on their health, and non-smokers still die annually for being ‘passive smokers’.

Most lung cancers reported in Kenya are as a result of cigarette smoking. More than 70 percent of lung cancers, other cancers like esophageal cancer and cancers of almost all parts of the body, and cardiovascular illnesses are caused by smoking.

The British American Tobacco plans on introducing alternative tobacco products that will help to reduce risks of both active and passive smoking.

WHO however is hesitant to endorse the alternative products while the Kenya Tobacco Control Alliance (KETCA) proposes that manufacturers are not genuine and smokers should just be made to quit smoking altogether.

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