An overview of tobacco control and prevention policy status in Africa

Abstract

Tobacco smoking prevalence remains low in many African countries. However, growing economies and the increased presence of multinational tobacco companies in the African Region have the potential to contribute to increasing tobacco use rates in the future. This paper used data from the 2014 Global Progress Report on implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), as well as the 2015 WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, to describe the status of tobacco control and prevention efforts in countries in the WHO African Region relative to the provisions of the WHO FCTC and MPOWER package. Among the 23 countries in the African Region analyzed, there are large variations in the overall WHO FCTC implementation rates, ranging from 9% in Sierra Leone to 78% in Kenya. The analysis of MPOWER implementation status indicates that opportunities exist for the African countries to enhance compliance with WHO recommended best practices for monitoring tobacco use, protecting people from tobacco smoke, offering help to quit tobacco use, warning about the dangers of tobacco, enforcing bans on tobacco advertising and promotion, and raising taxes on tobacco products. If tobacco control interventions are successfully implemented, African nations could avert a tobacco-related epidemic, including premature death, disability, and the associated economic, development, and societal costs.

Keywords: MPOWER; Tobacco control and prevention policy status in Africa; WHO African Region; WHO FCTC Articles; WHO FCTC and MPOWER implementation status; WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

Fig. 1

Average implementation rate of substantive articles of the Convention by the Parties reporting in 2014. Notes: The implementation rates for the African Region are based on data from 23 African countries [see annex 3, pp. 79–85 in World Health Organization, 2014]: Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nigeria, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, and United Republic of Tanzania. The average implementation rate for each Article refers to the average (i.e. mean) of the implementation rates for countries in the Region. The calculation of the implementation rate for Article 17 excludes data from Madagascar, Mauritania, Senegal, and Seychelles; and for Article 18 excludes data from Gambia, Seychelles, and Togo. The implementation rates for ‘other five Regions’ are based on data from 107 countries (Parties) [see annex 3, pp. 79–85 in World Health Organization, 2014] in WHO Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, Southeast Asia, the Americas, and Western Pacific Regions. The implementation rates for Articles 17 and 18 are based on data from 81 and 69 countries in those five Regions, respectively.