South Africa Tobacco Industry Interference report launched

The South Africa National Council Against Smoking (NCAS) together with the Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research (ATIM) and the University of Capetown Research Unit on the Economics of Excisable Products (REEP) launched the South Africa Tobacco Industry Interference report on Thursday 13 August 2020. The report forms part of the Global Tobacco Industry Interference Index, a global survey of how public health policies are protected from the industry’s subversive efforts, and how governments have pushed back against this influence.

The tobacco Industry Interference Index was initiated by the South-East Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) as a regional report with support from Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Stopping Tobacco Organizations and Products (STOP) and is part of a global publication of the Global Centre for Good Governance in Tobacco Control (GGTC) at the School of Global Studies in Thammasat University. The report shows that tobacco industry interference has decreased with an overall score of 72 in 2018 to 58 in 2019 owed partially to the changes and restructuring at the South Africa Revenue Services (SARS) which resulted in increased capacity for effective service delivery.

Despite this improvement in the overall index score, the report shows tobacco industry’s continued use of tactics, economic power, lobbying and marketing to influence tobacco control policy. Of note is the industry arguments around Illicit trade, the use of social media influencers to market and promote their products undermining the ban on advertising including the lack of transparency by other government departments in interactions with the industry. More effort is therefore still needed to mitigate against tobacco industry interference. Echoing the comments made by all presenters at the launch, Professor Ayo-Yusuf of ATIM emphasised the importance of the South African government to adopt the proposed Control of Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Bill (2018) to strengthen the current law and protect health policies from vested interest of tobacco companies. Civil society is called upon to work hand in hand with government to support the implementation of the World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) Article 5.3.

The full report can be accessed HERE.

Nigeria Tobacco Industry Monitoring Report

The Africa Centre for Tobacco Industry Monitoring and Policy Research (ATIM) has published the Nigeria Tobacco Industry Monitoring report. This is one of a series of reports on tobacco industry monitoring in Sub-Saharan Africa prompted by the need to provide a structured report of country experiences of tobacco industry interference in tobacco control. The aim is to garner concerted efforts at both the national and regional levels to counter tobacco industry activities in order to prevent the initiation of the use of tobacco and other nicotine products in this region.

These reports have been created by the instructors/mentors on the ATIM BETA training programme, in collaboration with some mentees who have already been trained in consultation with key tobacco control stakeholders in the countries. The Nigeria report identified salient tobacco control issues from 1990 to September 2018. It is a useful resource for tobacco control stakeholders. The FULL REPORT can be accessed HERE