Anti-tobacco body wages war against tobacco

It is estimated that about 44 percent of pupils in Cameroonian schools have already had their first contact with tobacco and an anti-tobacco organisation fears the statistics could get worse.

Also, 15 percent of youth below the ages of 15 are among the country’s smoking population.

These frightening figures have forced the Cameroon Coalition against Tobacco, C3T, headed by Dr Flore Ndembiyembe, to wage a war against tobacco in a bid to mitigate its effects.

It was for this reason that C3T recently summoned media practitioners to discuss quality tobacco control in Cameroon, as well as the communication and commercialisation strategies adopted by tobacco companies in modern times.

During the meeting, the coalition demonstrated several ways which tobacco brands use to woo more victims. According to C3T findings, the same way alcohol manufacturers have invented sugary cocktails to get adolescents accustomed to the taste of alcohol; cigarette companies have invented cigarette “sweet” or “bonbon”. “These bonbons are also dangerous to health like cigarette itself,” C3T warns.

Furthermore, tobacco industries are devising other means of wooing potential smokers. These include, but not limited to; aggressive use of the almost uncontrollable social media, clothing of young and attractive ladies in their brand’s T-shirts as well as the distribution of their communication gadgets to people in big cities with the ultimate goal of selling their brand and wooing new customers.

All these, C3T insist; is against the December 2006 Law governing advertisement in Cameroon. Article 39 of the Law clearly stipulates that advertisements for cigarettes and other tobacco products are prohibited in the press, whether by means of radio or television broadcasting, display advertising, film or any other similar means.

The prohibition also applies to any form of sponsorship or patronage highlighting cigarettes and other tobacco products, as well as cross-border advertising engineered from within the Cameroonian territory.

Since Cameroon became a signatory to the World Health Organisation Framework Convention for Tobacco Control, WHO FCTC, in May 2006, several actions have been taken by the Ministry of Public Health and the civil society for the adoption of an anti-tobacco law.

C3T regrets that the anti-tobacco law proposal has lingered at the Presidency of the Republic for too long.

According to C3T, out of 6 million tobacco-related deaths globally annually, 80 percent occurred in the developing world, mainly in Africa, where tobacco consumption swelled by 4.3 percent annually.

Shocking Statistics In Cameroon According to statistics, 28.8 percent of Cameroonian men and 8.1 perecent of women smoke, while 37 perecent of the country’s population are exposed to tobacco smoke in public and family circles. Also, 23.1 percent of young pupils cohabit with smokers in their homes and 45 percent of pupils cohabit with smokers outside their homes, 6.4 percent of pupils have receive free cigarettes from officials of tobacco companies. Then, 90 percent of lung cancers and two-third of cardiovascular diseases are linked to passive tobacco smoking.